The inaugural Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival and its failure to return a profit parallel Prime Minister Perry Christie's administration: a lot of flash, a whole lot of noise but little delivery. It started off with all the good intentions in the world and then was marred by egos, infighting and poor planning. The concept of a carnival is fine. They happen worldwide.
The problem was the plan for the event kept morphing. There was insufficient discipline to the idea to ensure full value for the money invested. The weekend event in May was quickly declared a success by the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP). It was described as a real, and perhaps also a symbolic, victory for a party beset by scandal and poor management.
Large crowds turned up and people had a good time. From that perspective, that of it being a good party, the PLP succeeded. The plan, though, was for it also to be an economic net gain for the country. Finally this week, the committee chairman, Paul Major, let the public know what most suspected all along. The government failed to secure a return on its multimillion-dollar investment.
The government spent $12.9 million on the carnival and made $6.68 million in taxes and direct revenue. The $12.9 million price tag is nearly $4 million over the $9 million originally budgeted for the event. The commission, however, concluded that the total direct economic activity of the carnival was about $19 million, including $5.5 million in Grand Bahama. Major added that a more formal study of the impact on the country's gross domestic product (GDP) is being prepared by Deloitte & Touche. When will this happen?
Major promised this next report in a "couple weeks or months". Major's commission claims that the cultural impact and room for growth are reasons to be highly optimistic of what the event will be to the country in the future. This, in their minds, may be enough to declare carnival a success; but in a Bahamas where the multibillion-dollar Baha Mar seems a long way from opening its doors and hardship hangs over us all, a loss of more than $6 million is nothing to sneeze at.
This significant shortfall was blamed on a lack of international sponsorship revenue, which had been projected at $5 million, and ticket sales, which did not materialize as the headliner was not announced until the 11th hour. Many tickets were bundled together and given away.
We hope next year's carnival produces the financial successes the committee hopes to arrive at. This will only take place, however, if the Bahamas National Festival Commission gets more organized well ahead of the scheduled events, giving time for proper marketing here and abroad, and giving the ground teams what they need to work out the logistics for the events.
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