Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe said yesterday that although the figures have yet to be made public insisted the figures for this year’s Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival are much better this year.
Mr. Wilchcombe, who spoke to reporters outside Cabinet yesterday, said the figures have to be ran through the proper channels before they are officially released.
“The Carnival figures are completed, the carnival commission has released those and of course it will be done through the commission and of course the Prime Minister’s Office and then the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture.
“The figures are completed and the commission has done their work and they did better than they did last year and they are going to let the media know very shortly,” Mr. Wilchcombe said.
Several members of the opposition have called for the release of the 2016 Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival Impact Report.
Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis in July said the government seemed to be stalling with the information as they failed to deliver on the promise of releasing the information several weeks after the event.
FNM Deputy Leader Peter Turnquest earlier this month questioned why the government has not yet released this year’s Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival financial performance report.
Mr. Turnquest, the shadow minister for finance, said the Bahamian people are entitled to know how their money was spent and what their returns on that money were.
The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) also urged the government earlier this year to “revamp” the unprofitable carnival product, suggesting the government re-establish the Junkanoo in June concept that the party claimed “worked better for all involved.”
Last year, the government budgeted $9 million for the inaugural Junkanoo Carnival, but due to cost overruns and other failures on the part of the commission, that spending exceeded to $11.3million as far as total revenue was concerned.
The government collected $8.3million in combined direct and tax revenues, with the latter accounting for $ 6.7million.
Officials say the remaining $1.6 million largely came from ticket sales and cash sponsorships.
Last year’s event saw about 115,000 participants or spectators and employed 7,208 people and benefitted 880 small businesses.
The dates for the next event have already been set with the Grand Bahama Carnival Kick Off taking place on April 14-15, 2017 at Taino Beach, Grand Bahama, and the main event for May 4-6, 2017 at Da Cultural Village in Nassau.
