Port of Spain, Trinidad, Thursday, February 5, 2026: Trinidad and Tobago has taken a major step toward evidence-based planning for its most iconic festival with the launch of a pilot Economic Impact Assessment of Carnival, designed to systematically measure Carnival’s socio-economic significance across tourism, the creative industries, and supporting sectors.
The National Carnival Commission of Trinidad and Tobago (NCC), working in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Community Development and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), has commenced the pilot assessment as part of a wider initiative to move beyond anecdotal estimates and develop a fit-for-purpose framework for understanding how Carnival generates economic activity at the community and sectoral levels.
The assessment will focus on Carnival’s micro- and meso-level impacts, examining how the festival drives income, employment, and business activity among micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), cultural producers, vendors, tourism operators, and other stakeholders across the Carnival value chain.
It will also explore Carnival’s role as a year-round cultural and creative production, rather than a single seasonal event.
Information gathered through the pilot will support more informed decision-making, investment planning, and policy development related to Carnival and the wider cultural and creative economy.
During the Carnival 2026 period, trained local enumerators may be engaging briefly with visitors, masqueraders, spectators, and vendors in Port of Spain and several key Carnival locations. Participation in the assessment is voluntary and anonymous, and no personal identifying or compliance-related information is collected.
NCC Chairman, Peter M. Kanhai, encouraged public participation in the exercise.
“Carnival touches thousands of livelihoods, often in ways that are not fully captured by existing data. This pilot assessment allows us to better understand how the festival supports communities, businesses, and creative practitioners, and to use that information to plan more strategically for the future,” he said.
Kanhai added that the initiative represents an important shift toward more data-driven management of the national festival.
“The launch of this pilot is an encouraging sign, as together with the Ministry of Culture and Community Development, the IDB, and various Carnival stakeholders, we are making another tremendous stride toward more accurately measuring the significant gains that our Carnival product and communities bring. That information will be critical in creating and guiding several innovations that, as we advance, will strengthen and develop Trinidad and Tobago Carnival,” Kanhai said.
The assessment is being carried out by Tom Fleming Creative Consultancy (TFCC), an international consultancy specialising in economic impact assessment and the cultural and creative industries.
The firm was selected through a public competitive procurement process and is working alongside a core team of Trinidad and Tobago–based Carnival experts and locally recruited enumerators.
The NCC thanks the public for its cooperation in this exercise, noting that the findings will help shape future approaches to evaluating and strengthening Carnival’s long-term socio-economic impact.
Economic Impact Assessment of Carnival Pilot. Meet the Team.
Keiba Jacob Mottley, Chief Executive Officer, NCC, shares a moment with the team of enumerators, including Christian Marquez, Multilateral Development Consultant, IDB (far left) and Francisca Patricio, Project Manager and Data Specialist, TFCC (3rd from right).
Economic Impact Assessment of Carnival Pilot – Keiba Jacob Mottley, Chief Executive Officer, NCC (far right) shares some encouraging words with the team of enumerators as (left to right), Kimberly King-Lestrade, Product External Services Consultant, IDB; Francisca Patricio, Project Manager and Data Specialist, TFCC; Mr. Christian Marquez, Multilateral Development Consultant, IDB; Jennice Price, Enumerator Supervisor, Komi Consulting look on.
Economic Impact Assessment of Carnival Pilot – Making Trinidad and Tobago Carnival Stronger through Measurement
(from left to right): Francisca Patricio, Project Manager and Data Specialist, TFCC; Keiba Jacob Mottley, Chief Executive Officer, NCC; and Christian Marquez, Multilateral Development Consultant, IDB.