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Dominica’s Tourism Minister, Hon. Ian Douglas believes that “while Dominica’s Carnival has evolved over the years we must continuously strive through innovative approaches to make Mas Domnik an even greater activity”.

The Minister made the observation when he addressed the official media launch of Carnival 2013 celebrations on Monday.

The Minister is suggesting a greater involvement of the youth in the development of Dominica’s Carnival.

“Carnival has to continue to evolve and so to my mind I believe we must go back to the schools and really start involving our young, the infants and the toddlers to express their creativity in carnival activities. We should not only do this through schools but also through our youth organizations and sports clubs so that we can groom and develop the talent of our young people so they can continue to make their contribution not only through Dominica’s Carnival but to our socio economic development generally.”

The Tourism Minister wants to see Dominica’s traditional Mas marketed in a more aggressive way.

“I continue this evening to make a passionate plea for the strengthening and marketing of our traditional Mas by building, displaying and incorporating more of our Sensay. I think we are losing that touch of our traditional Mas because I do not see as many Sensay costumes out there.”

Minister Douglas would like to see a greater effort made towards the perseveration of the various forms of traditional costumes throughout the year. The Minister is suggesting that a special activity be held later down in the year to showcase the costumes to visitors.

“My vision is that these traditional costumes are preserved. We can find a way to preserve those costumes so that they can be displayed and marketed throughout the year. It’s like on Ash Wednesday carnival is shut down till the next year and I believe we should find a way to have carnival as a tourism product throughout the year so that persons visiting Dominica can get to experience carnival out of the carnival season.”

The Minister is especially interested in preserving and showcasing the Carnival Queen costumes.

“We need to find a way to preserve those Carnival Queen costumes, because so much money is spent on them and so much time effort energy and creativity. We need to find a place where we can preserve the costumes and we can recreate the carnival experience as a tourism product.

The Minister has called for the productive use of the carnival queen costumes throughout the year.

“Where in Dominican can a visitor easily view a Sensay, Bwa Bwa costume out of the Carnival season?  I would like to see these costumes displayed at various points of interest at our Ministries, at our point of entry, and other interesting places such as the Botanical gardens.”

The Minister used the opportunity to congratulate and thank those who have assisted in preserving aspects of Dominica’s Traditional carnival over the years.