“Money well spent.”
That’s how Minister of Culture and Community Development, Michelle Benjamin, described the $137 million investment in Carnival 2026 festivities, which she said delivered record visitor arrivals, boosted communities across the country, and set the stage for an even bigger Carnival 2027.
“Total government investment of $137 million, well spent. Visitor projections of 37,000, we have reached and in reports coming in may have surpassed this. Hotels filled over 100% occupancy, and persons could not find space in Port of Spain. Carnival 2026 circulated money and opportunity across communities.”
She noted that 32 Regional Carnival Committees saw record numbers of people in some spaces.
“That in itself, I would say Moruga could contend those numbers and even Sangre Grande with over 20,000 persons coming out. But you could see that the $6 million invested by the government was money well spent. Persons felt safer this year so they came out to participate.”
The Minister said the season’s newest attraction, the Flava Village, shattered expectations, drawing more than 20,000 people on Carnival Friday alone.
“I reported that we would have received in the last press conference over 150,000 patrons. By now, we would have surpassed that, reaching 200,000 patrons. Flava, that addition, would be closing on the 28th of this month. Coming back next year with even more offerings to the general public and to those visiting.”
She said the season was not only historic but also not harmful to the environment.
“If you drive by that Savannah this morning, yesterday morning, it was totally clean and even spaces that had Regional Carnival were totally clean. So again, I would like to thank my colleague in Local Government and the officials at NCC for making sure that the Carnival itself left no mark with regards to the environment.”
Minister Benjamin said planning for Carnival 2027 begins immediately, with national consultations starting in April.
“When it comes to 2027, it is going to be an open planning as everything with regards to my desk and my office, we have open consultation. Those consultations are carded to start from the month of April, where we meet with all stakeholders that have an active part to play with regards to our Carnival.”
Meanwhile, Minister of Homeland Security, Roger Alexander, praised Gold Commander for Carnival 2026, DCP Suzette Martin, and by extension the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service for ensuring order in all Carnival festivities.
“She has been up and about continuously over this period and we want to thank her for that. She displayed a level of leadership when given this responsibility, something that we seldom see, hardly see this type of behaviour before.”
Minister of Defence, Wayne Sturge, said he believes Carnival 2026 would go down as one of the safest in the past two decades, but not only for Carnival-related activity.
“We’ve not seen any incidents of violence that we can talk about, or any drownings or anything like that. So I think all in all this year, we’ve been blessed in that regard. Of course, we look forward to a post-mortem to be conducted, not just with respect to the national security apparatus as it worked during the Carnival period, but countrywide basically.”