Environmental health management of Trinidad carnival : challenges and implications for cultural tourism development

Keywords

Carnival -- Trinidad and Tobago -- Trinidad; Tourism -- Health aspects -- Caribbean Area; Trinidad -- Social life and customs

Abstract

Trinidad Carnival is often referred to as the greatest show on earth. In many ways it is Trinidad's most important national celebration and has become a major international cultural tourism event, which attracts approximately 40,000 visitors each year. The Carnival Season spans six weeks from the beginning of January to the beginning of Lent. For the two days leading to Ash Wednesday, thousands of masqueraders flood the streets in elaborate costumes dancing to steel drum and calypso music. Doubtlessly, these large numbers of people place a heavy demand on the country's environmental health infrastructure. In assessing Trinidad Carnival as a major national event and an important example of Caribbean cultural tourism, this thesis will review the environmental health management of Carnival Monday and Tuesday in Port of Spain for 2003 and recommend best practices to promote environmental health and cultural tourism in Trinidad. Carnival goers are susceptible to environmental health hazards, from food borne illness, unsanitary solid and liquid waste management, infection from contact with infectious excrement, and noise pollution, which pose challenges and implications for cultural tourism development in Trinidad. Chapter One of the thesis opens with an explanation ofthe methodology used to construct the study. A literature review on cultural tourism follows, tracing the three main categories scholars have used to analyze the topic, including authenticity, socio-cultural issues, and cultural tourism management. The authenticity debate concerns the role of authenticity in the tourist experience. \Vith cultural tourism, destinations market the experience of local culture to visitors, which raises questions about what aspects of culture are desirable and appropriate for tourist consumption, how the packaging of culture for sale can affect the authenticity experience, and whether visitors actually want to have a fully authentic cultural experience. The review continues with the issue of socio-cultural effects of cultural tourism to get a sense of how the practice of traveling to share in a different culture can affect the traveler and the host populations. And finally, the review ends with a consideration oftourism and health to illustrate the need for further investigation into the relationship between environmental health management and tourism. Chapter Two offers a more in-depth discussion of the history of Trinidad Carnival. I focus on the diverse origins of Carnival, as well as the very recent efforts to promote brand "T &T", and Carnival and market it as a form of cultural tourism. In Chapter Three the findings ofthe field research conducted in Port of Spain during the Carnival 2003 season are presented and analyzed, from which recommendations are made for best practices in future celebrations.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2003

Advisor

Meehan, Kevin

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Liberal Studies

Format

PDF

Pages

89 p.

Language

English

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Identifier

DP0029118

Subjects

Arts and Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic; Dissertations, Academic -- Arts and Sciences

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