Trinidad and Tobago gear up for record breaking carnival with tripled visitor arrivals

Trinidad and Tobago: Minister of Tourism Randall Mitchell, during a recent press conference, revealed that Carnival 2025 is on track to be a record-breaking celebration with an anticipated tripling of number of visitor arrivals. While sharing the anticipations, he said that this will result in significant expenditure and economic boost for Trinidad and Tobago. 

Taking place from February 26 to March 4, 2025, the carnival season is anticipated to bring major surge in visitor arrivals, aircraft frequency, hotel occupancy and much more.  

The Minister outlined that Carnival 2024 welcomed around 41,444 visitors by air, including 29,651 non-nationals as well as 11,793 diasporas however, this year, the projections show a major increase in arrivals. He emphasised that the Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago estimates that between February 1 and March 14, 158,897 visitors are scheduled to arrive.  

According to Mitchell, the visitor expenditure for Carnival 2024 was estimated at around US$94.2 million covering entertainment, food, accommodation, transportation and other expenses. He added that given the anticipated increase in arrivals for this year’s Carnival, visitor spending is also expected to increase, which will further boost the local economy and create additional opportunities for businesses.  

Tourism Minister anticipates rise in aircraft frequency 

Mitchell further said that with more visitors coming to Trinidad to indulge in these festivities, the anticipated number of aircraft arrivals for the same period in 2025 stands around 1,759, which is more than 1,350 in 2024.  

He highlighted that frequent flights from major airlines such as British Airways, American Airlines, Caribbean Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Copa Airlines, JetBlue, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, LIAT2020 and United Airlines will help in accommodating the increase in demand while providing enhanced flexibility for travellers and contributing to the overall success of the season.  

The Minister also outlined the outlook for hotel occupancy saying that Trinidad’s hotels are already reporting full occupancy during Carnival 2025 season. He highlighted the unprecedented demand for accommodation and said that this increase in bookings benefits not only the hospitality sector but also gives a major push to local employment as staffing levels increase to accommodate the increase in visitors.  

With this, Mitchell is anticipating a highly successful and safe carnival season which will attract a huge number of visitors to the twin island nation.