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De­spite eas­ing geopo­lit­i­cal ten­sions in the south­ern Caribbean, tour op­er­a­tors say the 2026 Car­ni­val sea­son has failed to de­liv­er growth, with some re­port­ing worse per­for­mance than in 2025. In­dus­try lead­ers warn that Trinidad and To­ba­go con­tin­ues to miss op­por­tu­ni­ties to po­si­tion Car­ni­val as a mar­ketable tourism prod­uct.

In­com­ing Tour Op­er­a­tors As­so­ci­a­tion pres­i­dent Lor­raine Pouchet told Guardian Me­dia that op­er­a­tors were not see­ing the usu­al surge in book­ings typ­i­cal­ly as­so­ci­at­ed with Car­ni­val.

“Some tour op­er­a­tors are say­ing they have less busi­ness than last year,” Pouchet said.