SVG’s tourism pitch emphasises festivals, adventure

By Kenton X. Chance

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — CEO of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism (SVGTA), Annette Mark has emphasised the destination’s festivals as she gave an update to regional and international media here.

Briefing the media during the State of the Tourism Industry Conference in the Caribbean on Friday, Mark spoke of the “wonderful festivals” in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, with the signature event being Vincymas, the nation’s carnival.

“I wouldn’t say that it is one of the best, but it is very much, very much close to one of the best carnivals in the region,” Mark said.

“It is, well, I would say the best. Let me say the best. I mean, I hope there are no Trinis in here that would fight me down on that, but yeah, very much up there with Trinidad’s carnival.”

She said arrivals for Vincymas have surpassed pre-pandemic arrivals, growing by 56% since 2019. In 2025, the festival experienced a 30.6% year-over-year growth.

Mark said the numbers could have been higher but for “a catastrophic event last year that sort of made the numbers come down a little bit”, an apparent reference to Hurricane Beryl on July 1, 2024.

She also spoke of Nine Mornings, the festival unique to SVG during which people gather for various celebratory and religious activities in the pre-dawn hours of the nine mornings ending Christmas Eve.

“And we’ve now integrated Nine Nights,” she said, referring to the festival of lights that takes place at the 250-year-old Botanical Gardens in Kingstown, the oldest in the Western Hemisphere.

Mark said that the Emancipation Cricket Festival, which was introduced this year to mark the 50th anniversary of the West Indies Men’s Cricket team’s first ODI World Cup win, will continue.

“… it is a signature event that we will continue to bring diaspora persons back to St Vincent in the low season, and, of course, international visitors to our island, those who are very much into cricket and sport,” Mark said.

She said the SVGTA is looking at other events for next year.

“We are looking at launching our first Music Festival, which will more than likely be in … October,” Marks said.

“And this will be a music festival with a difference, because part of what we will be doing is integrating our Garifunas as part of the festival. It will be one of the nights our our own local music, the Garifuna, our traditional music into into the festival.”

She said the festival will also have a gastronomical component of local and indigenous foods on display.

Mark said SVG Sailing Week, which was introduced this year, incorporating the Bequia Regatta, which has not been held since the COVID-19 pandemic, will continue.

“And the second part of that is the Bougainvillaea Cup, recognising that we do have a lot of youth sailors, and we want these traditions to go on and on and on forever and ever.”

Marks said the destination has begun to develop “extreme tourism on mainland St. Vincent”.

In 2024, SVG launched “an extreme, endurance run” dubbed the “Man vs. Nature: The Joseph Chatoyer Run” — 10 kilometres of steep uphill running.

“… we will be having it again next year in March and the response has been quite overwhelming internationally, so we look forward to hosting that next year.”

She said construction of a zipline in Diamond on St. Vincent’s east coast will begin soon.

SVG will also be setting up an underwater park.

“And I know that there are other destinations that have underwater parks. …What will distinguish us is the fact that this underwater Park will immortalise our Garifunas in statues,” she said, referring to indigenous Vincentians. 

“It will also have a sunken ship as part of the park where the statues will be erected…

“And, of course, unlike other underwater parts, you will be able to snorkel, you will be able to dive and go through the ship and experience the statues, experience the park.”

Mark said this will be done while maintaining marine biology and the regeneration of coral reefs in the area where it will be erected.