THERE IS no evidence to support the notion that the Rihanna Loud concert is “subtracting” from Crop Over.
Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy “confronted” the issue at a breakfast Press conference at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Concert yesterday, saying that the concert was expected to bring additional cash into the economy.
“Certainly my moving around for Crop Over events hasn’t suggested it; the arrivals that we are seeing are not suggesting it either . . . If we are seeing significant increases in early July, those are not people coming here for the Rihanna show, those are people coming here for Crop Over. And if there is an increase in terms of that grouping, then there is nothing to suggest that the whole Rihanna concert has taken away from Crop Over; if anything it has enhanced,” Sealy argued.
He said 4 000 people were coming to Barbados for the August 5 Rihanna concert from as far as Dubai, India, Britain, North America, Guadeloupe and various parts of the region. (YB)
Full story in today’s SATURDAY SUN.
