The Carnival caprice noisily launched by the Christie administration is mostly of dubious economic and cultural value - a mass of confusion alienating much of the artistic community. Its intellectual and ideational underpinnings are unsound.
We are again set to pay the price for Prime Minister Perry Christie's falling in love with an idea without thinking it through and examining the complex of issues involved in such an undertaking. Having gone this far with the Carnival folly the government is feverishly trying to save face and to distract attention in a sort of bread and circuses with all manner of bells and whistles.
In significant ways the carnival idea is a wasted opportunity with potentially high costs. The time and expense could have been better utilized to enhance our tourism product and the visitor experience with a myriad of heritage and cultural offerings throughout the 365 days of the year instead of the relatively brief lead-up to and the actual three-day extravaganza.
The Carnival is a boondoggle for certain interests and is not the best use of limited funds. Have some people gone along with the Carnival charade mostly out of personal gain?
The original idea of how much was going to be raised from the private sector was nonsensical and failed to materialize. Why would various companies expend millions for little to no gain? This in itself is a vote of no confidence.
Fraught with confusion, last minute decisions, missteps, mismanagement and poor marketing, an already troubled venture is reeling with all manner of problems. The economics of this Carnival are questionable, with the costs likely not commensurate with the payoff in the short- or long-term.
The majority of those who attend Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago are locals, as is the case with Junkanoo here at home. Most of those visiting for T&T Carnival from overseas are known as VFR traffic, those visiting friends and relatives. It has little to do with pure tourism.

Nonsense
One observer of the tourism industry commenting on the economics of the Bahamian Carnival cast doubt on the returns from the event:
"The organizers would have us believe that the week-long event could generate up to 2.5 per cent of GDP. On average, that is approximately the volume of GDP generated every week, so it is expected to produce another week's worth of GDP. Assuming an $8 billion economy, 2.5 per cent represents $200 million in transactions. Utter nonsense!"
With a lifetime of studies in comparative religion and comparative mythology, the renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell captured something essential about the human experience:
"People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive ... so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive."
Whether one fully agrees or not, Campbell enthused that humans are seekers of enthralling experiences, and of bliss, that feeling of utter joy and happiness, like the "ah-ha" experience and euphoria of visitors and Bahamians alike, mesmerized by the dazzling array of the blues and greens of our pristine waters, a kaleidoscope of emerald, jade, azure, aqua and other shades of unbounded beauty bordered by spectacular beaches bespeckled with solid droplets of pink, accompanied by the yellow, purple and orange hues of sunbeams changing into the appropriate colors from sunrise to sunset.
But the magic of The Bahamas is no more contained in the destinations of Nassau/Paradise Island and Freeport than it is in the elixirs of sun, sand and sea. We are an archipelago of destinations and an archipelago of varied experiences both natural and cultural, beyond our traditional triple S tonic offered to visitors.
The visitor experience comes in many forms, from beach expanses to small ovoid green pods encasing a shell with a nut inside surrounded by a fleshy yellowish, salmon or orange pulp that may be sweet or sour or a juicy combination of both.

An American friend visiting The Bahamas recalls a week gorging on guineps as a highlight of her visit, with the inevitable mouth-twisting sensation from overconsumption. In her mid-40s she discovered a new fruit that has become one of her favorites. On her return to the U.S. she raved to friends about guineps and sapodillas, the kind of word-of-mouth advertising that is golden.

Highlight
Food communicates so much about a country's natural and cultural heritage and is often a highlight of a visitor's experience. While eating at Fish Fry, a friend began chatting with a couple visiting from Florida, who keeps returning because they love Bahamian conch salad, conch fritters and Bahama mamas. That afternoon they rushed to the Fish Fry after a quick check-in at the hotel.

Fish Fry was the brainchild of its Bahamian creators and a sympathetic FNM government and has proven a magnet for tourists. It is the kind of food heritage experience that has helped to diversify and improve our tourism product and the visitor experience.

So too might the offerings of young entrepreneurs like Alana Rodgers and her Tru Bahamian Food Tours, and Johnathan Forbes Jr. of Tasty Teas, which produces Bahamian iced teas and juices with flavors such as passion fruit, tamarind, soursop, fever grass, 21-gun salute and others. There is much that can be done to assist and provide economic platforms for entrepreneurs wishing to showcase Bahamian culinary treats. This was the idea behind the Native Food Market proposed by the FNM at the last election.

Such a market may offer a veritable feast of local fruits in season and food and drink made by small- and medium-sized Bahamian businesses including products such as jams, juices, ice cream, daiquiris, coconut tart, benny cake and other treats.

Tourists would flock to such a market to taste delights they have never before experienced. From gardens and farms to such a food market, many Bahamians would find jobs and economic opportunities as a part of the ongoing diversification within the tourism industry. The FNM also proposed the development of a Native Craft Market to showcase the work of Bahamian arts and crafts, yet another economic platform for artists and those producing various crafts.

One of the signature proposals of the FNM in its last election manifesto was the development of an ambitious Heritage Tourism project, which would help in the development of various heritage sites throughout the country, offering visitors a variety of ways to appreciate the history and heritage of the Bahamas.

Several years ago two dear friends visited from the U.S. at New Year's. The couple lived in Asia for many years, with the husband serving as a diplomat. His wife's passion for the theatre developed on their return to the US, with her founding a successful theatre and acting conservatory, and directing scores of plays over many decades.

Ardent travellers and cultural enthusiasts, they wound up at the New Year's Day Junkanoo parade, and experienced what they termed, the rapture of Junkanoo, a cultural experience that they never had before in their many years of extensive travel and living overseas. The couple initially thought that the Bahamas was like any other Caribbean destination with sun, sand and sea.

Memorable
What made their trip memorable was the uniqueness of Junkanoo. Amidst all of the U.S. fast food outlets and the other trappings of Americana, they delighted in something quite other or different from what they might find at home or elsewhere, all of which makes the point.

The nine million dollars budgeted thus far for the Carnival could have been better used to help create various year-round Junkanoo experiences for tourists and help market Junkanoo internationally, as well as help with the development and promotion of other Bahamian art forms and cultural expressions.

By example, a Junkanoo Cultural Centre with daily rush-outs, opportunities for guests to help paste as they watch the production of costumes, and the ability to purchase locally-made souvenirs such as cowbells and goat skin drums. There are other expressions of Bahamian music and folklore that may be nurtured and developed, including rake-'n-scrape and other sounds various musicians are creating.

The late Eugene Dupuch, famously known as Smokey Joe, applied a violin bow to the smooth edge of a steel saw, creating its own special sound. There is all manner of Bahamian rhapsody that is possible. But many in the creative economy and small- to medium-scale entrepreneurs in the tourism industry require more encouragement and tangible assistance from state enterprises.

Critical to the success of Singapore and South Korea was an industrial policy in which certain industries and entrepreneurs were encouraged with capital and technical assistance in order to produce various products and services. Instead of the energy and millions being spent on a Carnival of dubious economic and cultural value, there should be funds better spent to help seed and grow various businesses which may help to diversify our tourism product and services, especially in the areas of Bahamian heritage and culture, better integrating both into the visitor experience year-round.

o frontporchguardian@gmail.com, www.bahamapundit.com.

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