THOUGH some people believe that Sunday’s staging of Carnival in Jamaica 2026 was less impressive than last year in terms of the size of the crowds for the respective bands, Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett was very much pleased with the turnout.

The minister told the Jamaica Observer that Carnival Road March was an excellent showing and that it indicated to the world that Jamaica is open for business, despite the devastation caused in many parts of the island by the passage of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa on October 28 last year.

The minister also highlighted disruptions being faced globally, including unattractive fuel prices as a result of the war rippling across the Middle East with Israel, Iran and the United States, among other contributing factors.

“It was a great opportunity for tension release and exhaling after that massive hurricane and all the trauma that it brought. It is an excellent show. Jamaica is opened for business and we are back. The level of organisation and the management of it, trying to deal with numerous moving parts to put on a Carnival of this magnitude, is a real statement of the efficiency of the capacities that exist in the country to execute other projects,” Bartlett said.

“This brought people together from downtown, uptown, midtown, and everywhere. We have a large number of overseas visitors. We don’t have the numbers yet, but we should soon be able to provide some numbers,” the tourism minister said.

He told the Observer that last year’s staging of Carnival generated $165.7 billion. Bartlett added that if 60 per cent of that amount is generated with this year’s staging that would be enough.

“This has enormous economic impact for the small, medium players, and the creatives and others to enable the movement of everybody in an orderly and seamless way. We were able to get a large number of social media influencers on board this year. The essence of all that is to get the message out there to the world that Jamaica’s tourism is back,” said a confident Bartlett.

— Jason Cross

The joy is etched across the faces of these revellers as they enjoyed themselves on Knutsford Boulevard during Carnival road march on Sunday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

Members of the police keep it professional while a reveller gets on bad in front of them during Sunday’s Carnival road march. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

Revellers in party mode during Carnival road march on Sunday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

A colourful display as revellers make their way on the road on Carnival Sunday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)