Carnival visitors spent over $340M in 2016

A statement from the Ministry of Planning and Development says the CSO administers the annual Survey of Departing Visitors (SODV) for the ten days after Carnival Tuesday to monitor the expenditure patterns of visitors for the Carnival period in both Trinidad and Tobago.

Last year’s Visitor Arrivals and Expenditure for the Carnival period 2016 was based on administrative data received from the Immigration Division of the Ministry of National Security as well as data collected by the CSO in the Survey of Departing Visitors during the Carnival period, 2016.

Visitor arrivals for the Carnival period 2016 were monitored from January 22 to February 9, 2016.

The Carnival period included the 17 days before the Carnival celebration as well as Carnival Monday and Tuesday. The total visitor arrivals for the Carnival period to Trinidad and Tobago in 2016 was 35,483 people with 17,925 of those arrivals taking place in the week immediately preceding Carnival Monday and Tuesday (February 1 to 7). According to the statistics, the largest number of visitors during this week was recorded on Carnival Thursday (February 4) with 3,267 visitors.

From January 22 to February 9, 2016, the total visitor arrivals to Trinidad was 33,471 and to Tobago was 2,012.

To determine the spending patterns of visitors for the Carnival period the CSO administered the Survey of Departing Visitors (SODV) for the ten days after Carnival Tuesday (February 10 to 19, 2016).

It surveyed a total of 2,903 persons for the SODV and found that there was an average expenditure per visitor of approximately TT$9,597.00 over the period. When this average visitor expenditure is factored into the total visitor arrivals of 35,483 persons, the estimated visitor expenditure for the Carnival period for Trinidad and Tobago was estimated at TT $340,530,351. However, the statement notes that this figure is only representative of visitor expenditure and not necessarily total contribution of Carnival to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Trinidad and Tobago. magic spells redmercuri.com witch reddy about spells