Should Jamaica’s government be doing more to support the bands behind Carnival?

I’m Kalilah from Money Media, giving you money news for the Caribbean.

Every year we see headlines about Carnival in Jamaica generating billions in economic activity. Hotels fill up, flights increase, and businesses across the economy get a boost.

In 2025, Jamaica’s carnival is estimated to have generated almost 8 billion Jamaican dollars in direct spending, according to Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett. That’s about 50 million US dollars, with the economic impact extending twenty times beyond that.

This supported a reported 115 thousand jobs – from street vendors to costume makers, makeup artists, deejays and musicians, photographers, restaurants, and the list goes on.

The official numbers for 2026 aren’t in yet, but over 5000 visitors flew into Jamaica specifically for carnival last year, each spending on average US$3,200.  

According to Barlett, every dollar invested in carnival resulted in a return of 130 dollars.

Now with that kind of return and economic impact, should the government start offering special incentives and benefits to carnival organizers?

Because here’s the thing.

The main product driving all of that activity is the Road March. That’s what people are flying in for. That’s what gets marketed globally.

The Road March is produced by bands. We had three main ones this year – GenXS, Xodus and Yard Mas.

They go through months of planning, sourcing materials, managing logistics, hiring teams, coordinating trucks, music, and security. It’s a full-scale production.

According to a LinkedIn article posted by GenXS Director, Kibwe McGann, the Road March itself isn’t the most profitable part of the business.

Costs are high. The imported materials, logistics, staffing, clean up and much more add up quickly.

So to keep the experience affordable, bands rely heavily on sponsorship. And sometimes, even with sponsorship, Road March is a loss leader for the bands.

And that means while the wider economy is benefiting from Carnival, the producers of the core product are under pressure.

Now this is where Jamaica could learn from Trinidad and Tobago, the region’s Carnival heavyweight.  Trinidad’s Carnival earnings in 2025 were estimated at 95 million US dollars – about double Jamaica’s direct earnings.  Some studies suggest the economic impact is as high as a billion US dollars.

See in Trinidad, Carnival is backed by policies that develop support of the cultural and creative industries.  There’s a whole National Carnival Commission that supports bands, mas camps, and event organizers. 

Grants and subventions help to cover production costs, along with support for infrastructure, security, and promotion. In 2026 alone, 137 million TT dollars was allocated to the celebrations from the national budget.

So when we think about the economic impact of Carnival in Jamaica, the question isn’t just “How much money did Carnival generate?”  We should also ask, “How can we invest in it further to keep it growing?”

Because Jamaica already has the demand. The question now is supply.

According to McGann, in recent years, there’s been more engagement between policy makers and the bands.

But there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that Jamaica Carnival is affordable for locals and foreigners, fiscally sustainable and remains a boost to the economy. 

And that’s the bottom line.