The word "carnival" comes from the Latin expression "carnem levare," which means "farewell to meat." It refers to the period of celebration that occurs before the Christian season of Lent, during which people traditionally abstain from meat and other indulgences. Today, the carnival has evolved into a time of revelry and celebration, featuring parades, parties, costumes, and more.
COVID-19: A world without carnivals
One of the most famous carnivals in the world takes place in Brazil, with its main hub in the coastal city of Rio de Janeiro. Each year, millions of people participate in the five-day samba rave. However, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic forced the cancelation of the event in 2021, and so it did with all major carnivals worldwide. Trinidad and Tobago, for instance, did not celebrate the 2021 edition of the Carnival, while the event attracted over 30 thousand visitors in the previous year. This translated into a significant economic loss, considering that the expenditure of tourists during the Carnival season amounted to more than 450 million Trinidad and Tobago dollars in 2020. Meanwhile, the tourism volume in the Italian city of Venice during the Carnival month dropped by around 90 percent in 2021 compared to pre-pandemic levels.Another famous Italian carnival takes place in Viareggio, whose closest largest city is Pisa. In February 2021, Pisa’s international airport handled only around 590 commercial flights – roughly 1.5 thousand less than in February 2020, already at the onset of the pandemic. Similarly, in Barranquilla, Colombia, more than two million Carnival revelers were absent in 2021, while famous Mardi Gras parades did not roll in the streets of New Orleans that year either.
2023: the year of the comeback
While in 2022 some of the mentioned carnivals and similar events around the world were allowed again to some extent, 2023 marked the return of unrestricted celebrations, as COVID-19 measures had already been dropped in most countries. In Germany, for instance, attendees to Rose Monday parades during Fasching in 2023 could enjoy the celebrations without any mask, vaccine, or isolation requirements after the government lightened the regulations on February 1. Similarly, the Carnival of Tenerife was back to normal after two years of limitations. That year, the estimated hotel occupancy in this Canary Island was close to 90 percent during the main carnival days.
