For the last 12 years, hotel and guest house occupancy in Port-of-Spain during the Carnival season has remained consistently high, says Hassel Thom, president of the Trinidad Hotels, Restaurants and Tourism Association (THRTA).
Audiences at the State-sponsored Panorama and Calypso Fiesta at Skinner Park have also increased or remained the same, the T&T Guardian was told.
"All Port-of-Spain hotels and guest houses are usually sold out for Carnival," Thom said.
He was responding to questions from the T&T Guardian on disclosures by Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, Minister of Community Development, Culture and Arts, in the Senate last Tuesday of declining or very stagnant tourist arrivals and dwindling audiences at Carnival events.
The minister was responding to a question from Senator Wade Mark who wanted clarity on Government's involvement in the management of Carnival through the National Carnival Commission (NCC), as indicated in a letter Gadsby-Dolly wrote to the organisation's chairman last December.
Thom said while there was a general annual decline in tourist arrivals in T&T over the last two years (by six per cent), when it comes to Carnival Port-of-Spains hotels and guest houses are always filled with tourists, as well as locals.
"That has not changed, even during the bird flu scare."
He said hotel occupancy in Port-of-Spain was "bumper" last year, adding many locals book hotels for the two-day Carnival festival because they do not want to drive after drinking, among other reasons.
He said 2015 was a good year for annual tourist arrivals because of the destination marketing done in 2014. "We saw a decline in visitor arrival in 2016 and expect 2017 to be another challenging year because of inadequate marketing in 2016."
Christopher James, president of the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association (THTA) said Tobago does not see benefits from Carnival in Trinidad.
He noted some tourists go to the island to cool down after the festival but said the THTA has not seen any increase in hotel bookings. "Bookings are down and we expect no improvement over the next few months."
James said tourist arrivals increased by seven per cent in other Caribbean countries but T&T has not seen this.
Asked about dwindling audiences at State-sponsored calypso events, Tuco president, Lutalo Masimba, said as far as Calypso Fiesta is concerned, the numbers attending have actually increased.
The Skinner Park event is sponsored by the Government and managed by Tuco.
Masimba said when Tuco managed the Dimanche Gras in 2014, based on a NCC decision to have it as a stand alone event, the number of attendees also increased.
He said NCC took back control of the event in 2015 and has been in charge since. Efforts to reach NCC chairman, Kenny de Silva, were not successful.
Gregory Lindsay of the United Pan Players Movement said up to last year the Grand and North Stands at the Queen's Park Savannah for Panorama were filled. He said the pan audience has been a faithful and consistent one over the years.
Lindsay, however, said Gadsby-Dolly is doing the right thing because the Carnival product, as the whole, is on the decline.
He compared T&T's Carnival to Caribana in Toronto which rakes in in excess of $50 million annually for the city.