THE economic power of Carnival in Jamaica was firmly underscored on Wednesday as Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett announced that the 2025 staging of the event generated an estimated $7.7 billion in direct expenditure, while producing an estimated overall $165.7 billion boost for the local economy.

This represented a 48 per cent increase in revenue generated by Carnival 2025 when compared to 2024.

Bartlett made the disclosure during a media briefing at Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston as he highlighted the umbilical cord which binds entertainment and tourism locally.

He noted that having returned to pre-pandemic visitor levels in 2024, Carnival generated direct expenditure of $4.42 billion and a total economic impact of $95.4 billion.

According to Bartlett, the strong performance of the 2025 staging of Carnival signalled the continued expansion of the product and its importance to the island’s tourism economy.

“Carnival in Jamaica is an economic engine…it is generating spending, supporting jobs, energising small businesses, strengthening supply chains, and creating demand for Kingston and Jamaica,” Bartlett said.

“Numbers like these do not whisper, they shout. They tell investors and partners that Carnival is not just cultural excitement but that it makes solid economic sense,” added Bartlett.

The tourism minister further reported that in 2025 overseas revellers spent an average of US$5,320.89 per person, up from US$3,209 per person in 2024, resulting in total direct spending of an estimated US$23.6 million ($3.76 billion).

He further revealed that among first-time visitors in 2025, 78.7 per cent indicated they travelled to Jamaica specifically for Carnival, while that figure rose to 87.7 per cent among repeat visitors.

“That means that Carnival is not only simply entertainment, it is motivating travel, building loyalty, and giving people a real reason to choose Jamaica again and again,” Bartlett said.

“Experience drives travel decisions, they deepen visitor spend and lengthen stays. Visitors travel for something they can feel, something they can participate in, and something they can carry home and talk about long after the trip ends,” added Bartlett.

He told the media briefing that the expanding influence of Carnival in Jamaica is also playing a role in the country’s broader tourism recovery following the passage of Hurricane Melissa last October.

Bartlett noted that the sector has rebounded significantly, with current figures indicating that Jamaica has already reached approximately 75 per cent of its projected visitor arrivals in the months following the storm.

“That means that come winter, and heading into 2027, we could have a full recovery of the sector,” he said.

“There have been significant increases in tourist arrivals and we are seeing figures that surpass our initial projections. We’ve had to rewrite the narrative in terms of projected performance for the year and that’s because of how well we’ve recovered as a country,” declared Bartlett.

He credited Carnival and other entertainment-driven events for helping to fuel the rebound of the tourism sector in the aftermath of the Category 5 storm which devastated sections of Jamaica’s south-western and northern coasts and pointed to the recently concluded Lost in Time Festival as another example of the entertainment industry’s growing contribution to tourism.

With a packed calendar of parties leading up to the road parade on April 12, Carnival in Jamaica is expected to once again transform Kingston into a hub of activity, generating increased demand for accommodation, transportation, food services, and creative talent, Bartlett noted.

Scene from the Carnival road march in Kingston in 2025. Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett announced that the 2025 staging of the event generated an estimated $7.7 billion in direct expenditure while producing an estimated overall $165.7 billion boost for the local economy. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

BARTLETT… Carnival in Jamaica is an economic engine