BARBUDA'S FIRST CARIBANA - Antigua & Barbuda

Antigua’s celebration of 50 Years of
Carnival should be seen as a major
milestone in the country’s social,
cultural and economic development
and the festival has emerged as
one of the most colorful and wellknown
summer events on the
Caribbean entertainment calendar.
Although little analysis has been
conducted to determine true ROI
from this festival and the economic
gains that have been generated
over the years, the value of the
festival in terms of enhancing our
cultural heritage, and strengthening
the cultural identity of the
destination is well recognized.
As we embark on the next 50
years, an abundance of cultural
assets have emerged with the
development of Carnival in terms of
craftsmen, musicians, performers
and unique entrepreneurial
opportunities. The Caribbean’s
most colorful summer festival
has the potential to increase
economic activity and heighten
the level of development that can
be garnered from tourism activity
Estimates indicate that Antigua’s
Carnival attracts over fifteen
thousand visitors primarily from
the Caribbean region. However,
in the past 5 years the increase
in arrivals from the United States
has grown steadily and last
year, visitor arrivals in July and
August grew quite handsomely.
By: Derede Samuel-Whitlock - Antigua and Barbuda’s
Director General of Tourism in New York
Studies show that a growing
number of visitors in the US have
become “special interest” travelers
and rank the arts, heritage and/or
other cultural activities as one of
the top five reasons for traveling.
Some 35% or 35.3 million adults
indicate that a specific arts,
cultural or heritage event or activity
had influenced their choice of
destination. In fact, many travelers
will extend their stay because of an
arts, cultural or heritage event or
activity.
As destinations struggle to
differentiate their tourism products,
there are tremendous opportunities
for Antigua and Barbuda to
integrate Carnival as a core and
unique part of our tourism product
for both visitors and cultural
export. Trinidad and Tobago, the
city of Chicago and Bangalore,
India have found effective ways to
expand their tourism products by
integrating other art forms such as
visual, performing and culinary arts
to develop sound cultural offerings
that have emerged as lucrative
sectors in their economies.
According to one Trinidadian
commentator “The carnival arts
have emerged to be the lynchpin of
the cultural industries, which is one
of the top foreign exchange earning
sectors in the Trinidad and Tobago
economy.”
With the recent merger of the
Ministry of Tourism and Carnival
under the same umbrella, this is
the opportune time to develop
a symbiotic relationship that will
increase the economic impact
that Carnival can have on the
tourism and entertainment
industries as well as the wider
economy. A comprehensive
evaluation of the direct economic
contribution of the Carnival’s
foreign exchange earnings and
export of goods and services is
mandatory as a starting point.
Minister Lovell has discussed
the development of a Festivals
Committee that will manage our
three main festivals, Carnival,
Sailing Week and Independence
Homecoming. A core component
of this team should be product
development and the identification
of cooperative promotional
opportunities to jointly market
Carnival as a part of our Tourism
product.
However, attempts to market the
Carnival and, in a larger sense,
the destination, will require many
modifications in the Carnival
product and this will have to be
done in a manner that balances the
authenticity of the festival against
potential commercialism of it.
One example of product
enhancement that would better
support Tourism would be to shift
some of the Carnival activity away
from its customary setting in St.
John’s, the capital, to some of
the villages and historical areas
such as Nelson’s Dockyard and
Shirley Heights. If entertainment
centers are spread out through
the island it will not only serve to
highlight the adventure side of
the destination, but also broaden
the entertainment offerings to
cultural visitors. This would serve
to lengthen the yachting season,
and the overall tourist season could
be extended to the end of July.
In St. Lucia, Carnival cruises
around the Soufriere have grown in
popularity and have become a big
selling point of St. Lucia’s Carnival.
continued on p44
come celebrate
our
golden jubilee