CARNIVAL BEATS CRIME, HOTELIERS JUMPING FOR JOY

This good news comes from Tourism Minister Howard Chin Lee who has already dubbed this year’s festivities "the biggest Carnival season of all time." Chin Lee, in an interview with Newsday, says he expects an increase in arrivals this year as foreign music television stations, MTV and BET have raised the awareness of Carnival in foreign countries.

"We anticipate an increase in visitors, much more than last year, since Carnival has been marketed strongly as an international brand over the last few years," says Chin Lee.

In fact, this influx of visitors is evident at most hotels, as hoteliers are boasting of fully booked rooms, with no available vacancies from the Carnival Friday to Ash Wednesday. Marketing Director of the Cascadia Hotel, Barry Bidaisee says reservations at the hotel have been 100 percent booked since last year, with most bookings being made between September and November 2005.

"The promotional work being done by different companies in Europe and other countries has exposed TT’s Carnival even more," explains Bidaisee.

Bidaisee says the early bookings have broken the traditional last minute rush, as word is getting out that people should book way in advance.

"We are a 68 - room hotel and there has never been a year that rooms were left vacant during the Carnival season," he says.

Sales and Marketing Director of the Hilton Trinidad, Geeta Mohammed, says all rooms at the hotel have been booked since last year, with no complaints or cancellations being made by visitors because of the crime situation.

"We would have definitely had a meeting if visitors were cancelling their trip due to the crime situation. Bookings have been steady over the past few years and this year is no different," she says.

Other hotels such as the Crowne Plaza Hotel have said it is business as usual, as they have been running fully booked throughout the year. Business isn’t only booming for hotels. A trip to the largest Carnival supplier in the Caribbean, Samaroos Limited and Company has shown that most sales for costume materials were completed in early August 2005. Manager and Director of Samaroos, Steve Samaroo says most sales were done earlier by big bands like Harts, Poison and Tribe, who should be finishing up with their work now. Materials in demand at Samaroos include satins, chiffons, candy floss, spandex, beads, sequins and trimmings. Samaroo who import materials from India, Korea, Japan, China, England, Canada and the Far East, says customers from Curacao, Guadeloupe and Bonaire have been shopping for materials for their Carnivals as well.

"This is not the only Carnival we have to facilitate, as 99 more begins after our Carnival is over. People shop at our store because we have a variety of materials which cannot be found in other stores like in New York," says Samaroo. "We also have the most affordable prices in the region and offer discounts to large mas bands and children’s bands."

Samaroo expects that business will increase more ths month as Carnival draws closer. Samaroo says traditional characters and small bands are usually the last to finish up their shopping for the season.