The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The  Bahamas National Festival Commission’s (BNFC) chairman yesterday said the Carnival postponement controversy would inflict no long-term damage, arguing that “all of the hoopla” had given the event “a new presence” locally and internationally.

Paul Major told Tribune Business: “We think everything will go fine. Fortuitously, I think that all of the hoopla has really given the whole Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival a new presence, both locally and internationally. I don’t think there will be any long-term repercussions.

“I think the word will get out faster and wider, no question about it. We will put on a grand show, and we’re moving closer and closer towards privatisation, so that the Government invests less and less in it, and hopefully, we can franchise it out to somebody.”

    The BNFC, the organiser of the Carnival that is now in its third year, announced on Tuesday it had made the “difficult decision” to postpone the Nassau leg to May 18-20, pushing it back two weeks from the original May 4-6 date.

The potential conflict with general election rallies was cited as the reason, with the Grand Bahama leg of Junkanoo Carnival also scrapped.

The announcement, though, triggered a major backlash from the local and international community.

It was this, and the potential fall-out for the Bahamas at it relates to its international reputation among travellers and tourists, that appears to have caused an abrupt re-think and reversal on Junkanoo Carnival.

Visitors coming to this nation specifically for Junkanoo Carnival would have had to cancel, costing them thousands of dollars in hotel and air fares, with the Bahamas having to endure angry social media reviews and postings read by persons across the globe.

The two-week postponement to May 18-20 also threatened to cost Carnival bands, those affiliated with them and service providers “millions” in lost sales and cancellations.

This, in turn, would have undermined a key Government rationale for holding Carnival and subsidising it to the tune of almost $20 million over its first two years - creating jobs and small business entrepreneurial opportunities, and unleashing the ‘cultural economy’.

Now, the constant ‘back and forth’ over the Junkanoo Carnival dates threatens to exacerbate and deepen a self-inflicted debacle, with the uncertainty threatening to further damage the event’s brand and that of the wider Bahamas.

   The Ministry of Tourism, in a statement on Wednesday night, explained that the festival will take place on the original dates of May 4-6 and April 28-29.

This came after Obie Wilchcombe, minister of tourism, intervened in the matter after consultation with Prime Minister Perry Christie. The statement indicated that the Ministry of Tourism plans to work with the Bahamas National Festival Commission (BNFC) as it ramps up marketing and promotion in New Providence and Grand Bahama.

    “The Minister of Tourism said whilst he understands the thinking that led to the decision made by the Carnival Commission that resulted in the change of dates for the annual event,” the statement read, “the Minister is satisfied that after full consideration of all matters pertaining to this year’s carnival an intervention was necessary.”