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The staging of Dominica’s carnival, ‘The Real Mas,’ 2013 was a success, according to Minister for Tourism, Hon. Ian Douglas, in an exclusive interview with GIS.

Dominica’s street parade was held on February 11^th and 12^th exhibiting Dominica’s splendour with no major incidents being reported.

The Minister expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of events.

“I believe that the public’s reaction was one of satisfaction from the opening of carnival right through last lap on Tuesday. Of course we have heard numerous remarks and compliments being directed at the police because they did a very good job. We are very happy with the outcome and we congratulate them.  We always emphasize from the beginning of Carnival to the end that we would really like to have an incident-free carnival and that was exactly what happened this year and I’m very pleased by that.  The Police again did a marvellous job, they were very efficient, all the bands on the road cooperated and the revellers had a good time.”

The Tourism Minister said rural carnival celebrations went well based on the impressive participation of communities across the island.

Hon Douglas emphasized the fact that all events throughout the carnival season, including the fringe events, were well-positioned to contribute to the overall success of Carnival 2013.

“Traditionally, the Queen show has a modest attendance and this year that was not the case.  This year the Queen show was very well-attended and we’re very heartened and very encouraged because of that... all of the young ladies gave world standard performances making the Queen show of a very high standard.  With regard to calypso, while we are not responsible for the calypso shows and the calypso aspect of Carnival, I believe that the Dominica Calypso Association would have been very pleased with the way things went throughout, from eliminations right through to the finals.  The finals probably had close to ten thousand people.  All of the calypsoes  were well-received on the road on Carnival Monday and Tuesday and all of the bands: WCK, Triple Kay, Fanatic, Swinging Stars all contributed to making this year’s carnival a great success.”

On the question of private sector participation, Hon. Douglas responded that corporate citizens were also instrumental in the successful staging of this year’s carnival.

“We believe that public and private sector participation continues to improve every year and we hope that will be a growing and improving trend.  We hope that more and more private sector persons will come onboard because at the end of the day, funding makes the carnival successful.  It cannot just be about only Government pumping money into Carnival.  While Carnival is a tourism product and while it is used to expose the destination, it is also a local activity where a lot of small businesses generate a lot of revenue as a result of patrons purchasing various items from those establishments.”

The Tourism Minister thanked all those who contributed to the success of 2013 carnival celebrations.

“We really want to thank all the people who worked very hard.  While we revel on the streets on Monday and Tuesday, there are a lot of unnamed people who continue to work very hard behind the scenes.  If it were not for them, Carnival would not continue to grow and be successful.”

Currently, records of total visitor arrivals during the carnival season are still being compiled. GIS will bring you that information when it becomes available.