Police say 90,000 attended Carnival

As of Tuesday, May 19, 2015

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

AN ESTIMATED total of 90,000 people attended this month’s inaugural Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival events in New Providence, according to official police statistics.

Bahamas National Festival Commission Chairman Paul Major confirmed the figure to The Tribune yesterday, revealing that at the event’s peak, the Music Masters concert on Friday, May 8, saw 50,000 people come out to attend.

That number constitutes the largest gathering in one place in the Bahamas, many have claimed.

Mr Major said a “Youth Culture Fest,” a Kids Festival event held on May 1, attracted an estimated 5,000 “revellers and spectators”.

The opening ceremony, called JunkaMania, attracted an estimated 10,000 on Thursday, May 7. The Road Fever Parade on the Saturday attracted 10,000 while the closing ceremony attracted 15,000.

Officials are still awaiting statistics about the economic impact of the event, with Mr Major saying they should be available around the end of the month. He has previously said that the carnival festivities will result in more than $50m being injected into the Bahamian economy.

Before the event, he had estimated that between 50,000 to 100,000 revellers would participate in carnival’s main three-day events. Organisers have hailed the event a “cultural revolution”.

Last week, Mr Major told The Tribune: “The spirit of the event, the number of spectators, the number of participants, it was awesome. We are witnessing a cultural revolution. It’s an economic stimulus.”

Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers’ Confederation (BCCEC) Chairman Gowon Bowe has said that the positive feedback from carnival is likely to have a positive impact on the economy.

However, he stressed that the long-term success of carnival will depend on whether the event can draw large numbers of foreigners to the country and inject “new” money into the economy.

He said: “From an economics point of view, it’s as much about sentiments as it is about numbers. The positive response and perception of increased economic activity is important if simply because it gave the impression and feeling of increased economic activity.

“As it relates to the circulation of money, the flow of money creates an impression and encourages people to spend, which then becomes a self-perpetuating cycle that leads to greater consumption spending, which leads to greater provision of goods and services which leads to an increase in wages. It all sets the stage for something that could be bigger.”

vinceP 8 years, 11 months ago

Wait, so Mr. Major said that 50 Million would be injected into the Economy? Ummmmm, if we are looking at a total of 90 Thousand Carnival goers, and lets assume they all paid the $15 entry fee, then we can conclude that they made roughly 1,350,000 Million at the gate. So.....Ummmm, where would the balance of roughly $48,650,000 Million come from?

caribguy 8 years, 11 months ago

Obviously, its not just admission fees, but moneys spent on food, buying costumes, tourist (if any) arrivals, nights in hotels (if any), renting cars (again if any) etc. I'll admit though, $50 million seems a bit of a stretch. Wishful thinking.

valleygirl 8 years, 11 months ago

Timing was off, should happen when schools are out - summer vacation for "visitors".

proudloudandfnm 8 years, 11 months ago

Horse nanny.....

10,000 maybe.....

This damned government probably does believe 90,000 attended. Yet another example of their utter ignorance....

duppyVAT 8 years, 11 months ago

............... 4 days = 90,000 ..................... 22,500 per day. Say each one of them spent on average $100 = $9 million .................... thats Perrynomics 2.0

vinceP 8 years, 11 months ago

@ Caribuy

It was a rhetorical question

Sickened 8 years, 11 months ago

This spreadsheet may not come out so well but... just some very rough numbers to see what I could come up with (and I couldn't come close to $50 million and these are some pretty generous assumptions). I guess you would have to add how much the vendors spent on food and how much gas the taxi drivers bought, and how much the police got paid in overtime etc. etc.

Number of people $ spent total spent on what? 90,000 $50 $4,500,000 entry tickets 10,000 $300 $3,000,000 tourists on rooms 10,000 $10 $100,000 tourists on taxis 90,000 $50 $4,500,000 people on food and drink 10,000 $300 $3,000,000 people on costumes 10,000 $300 $3,000,000 tourists on restaurants 10,000 $75 $750,000 tourists on airport fees 10,000 $100 $1,000,000 tourists on gifts
TOTAL $19,850,000

duppyVAT 8 years, 11 months ago

10,000 BJC tourists???????? from where???????????? Stop talking SHIT!!!!!!!!!...................... BOL

caribguy 8 years, 11 months ago

10,000 tourists for BJC is a bit too generous, maybe a couple hundred. lol

TalRussell 8 years, 11 months ago

Is it possible Paul's low on batteries calculator may have added 40,000 invisible spirits to appear da naked eyes? Comrades a crowd attendance estimate by police is for FREE events, not paid ticketed events, so why in hell would Paul, who during just about every interview he did on talk radio, went out his way to brags about how much he is a numbers man's) to be relying on "police crowd statistics?"
Since we can take it that the Music Masters concert was NOT a FREE admission but ticketed event, at say only $30 ticket x 50,000 tickets sold generates 1.5 million dollars. All Paul, the numbers man's has do hold on to his 50,000, is to count the damn monies, and if he can't reach 1.5 million dollars, then he ain't using PAID ACCURATE TICKETS SOLD attendance reality statistics?

GrassRoot 8 years, 11 months ago

I am not saying its done the right way, but if 90,000 people show up and are willing to spend money, that is a good thing.

TalRussell 8 years, 11 months ago

Comrade GrassRoot judging by what is reported to have happened at the gas leak Elizabeth Town Hall, it sure as hell seems likes the PLP cabinet has the charter bus operators programmed into they's cell phones speed dial? Yes, 90,000 bodies is quite a reasonable numbers, but what did they contribute toward making any sense of Paul's now grown to 90 millions dollars? Cuz you knows if they bused them, they is also fed them free food? That free loading bunch would've even bought a single damn cold bottle cream soda pop from a vendor. But who am I stop you from believing, or should I say in humouring ya self?

ThisIsOurs 8 years, 11 months ago

Say "speed dial"...LOL LOL

TalRussell 8 years, 11 months ago

Comrade ThisIsOurs, okay lets do some mathematics together. We Commonwealth of the Bahamaland's total population of NassauTown happens be no more than 255,000. Throw in all in we capital city Freeport and all 700 other islands, cuz we entire population can only adds on another 105,000 souls. The Numbers would mean 90,000 attending (tourists included) would have made it the most well attended event per percentage of total population ever held by any nation in entire universe. Are you telling me it is possible that the Financial Secretary to the PLP's cabinet, really into believing these far-fetched ticket paying numbers? For this all be true, this PLP cabinet would all have had their numbers pre programmed in the Creole language to people not yet accounted for by immigration authorities? They selling and I ain't trusting what amounts to impossible ticket revenues.

LOL

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