The Tourism Linkages Network is projecting approximately 10,000 revellers and 50,000 spectators for Carnival in Jamaica 2020.

Carnival is one of Jamaica’s fastest growing festivals and has been marketed as a tourism product that yields significant earnings year-on-year, and the capacity to continue growing.

Kingston, Jamaica is at the centrepiece of this masterplan and has been positioned by stakeholders as the region’s leading cultural and entertainment hub.

Kamal Bankay, Chairman, Carnival in Jamaica stakeholders committee noted that Carnival in Jamaica has grown impressively as a result of fruitful partnerships that were created to package carnival as an authentic Jamaican product.

“Carnival has been around for more than 30 years with various bands and fetes developing their products and experiences. In this new phase, a public-private partnership facilitated by the Tourism Linkages Network has resulted in the development of an umbrella brand – Carnival in Jamaica – which is marketed internationally by the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB). This has helped Jamaica’s carnival product to grow,” he told BUZZ.

In

his remarks, he underscored that the carnival season is one of the islands

earmarked foreign exchange reservoirs and unquestionably the figures will

continue to increase for 2020 and onwards.

“Since 2017, we have witnessed year on year growth in stopover arrivals and foreign exchange earnings to the island during the Carnival season. There is no doubt that those figures will continue to increase and for 2020 revellers can expect a bigger road parade, even more events and increased participation from the wider business community,” he shared.

“They

can also expect a safe, secure and seamless experience based on support from

the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) for the Carnival in Jamaica initiative,”

he added.

Tourism

Minister, Edmund Bartlett last week (Jan 16) at the launch of Carnival in

Jamaica says carnival has quickly become a key growth factor for the economy,

while he notes that it is important that we market it as an authentic product

offering fresh and new experiences.

“When we re-energised it in 2017, it was with one intention in mind, to create a carnival product so that we can market it, and it can become a critical content in the architecture and the arrangements that we are making for the dissemination of ideas and information about Jamaica,” the Minister said.

“So, this is very important to us because we’re looking forward to building the City of Kingston as the entertainment centre of the Caribbean. We are not competing with anybody. You know what we’re doing. We’re creating something that is truly authentic. Something that people come to Jamaica to experience and consume and can go nowhere else and get it,” he added.

Photos: Don Waysome/BUZZ