The culture ministry announced earlier this year that it wanted to consolidate the two main carnivals, Batabano and CayMAS, after complaints from hoteliers and tourist traders. But Dwayne Seymour, the minister responsible for culture, noted that settling on dates for all of the seasonal street carnivals had proved challenging for his ministry.

“This was not an easy task and required many proposals and counter-proposals with stakeholders and vested parties,” Seymour. “At this time we believe we have gained the majority buy-in and have made final decisions to accommodate the start of 2020 bookings.

The ministry will continue to listen to our stakeholders on an annual basis and make adjustments as necessary,” he added, as he thanked the parties for their submissions and “the healthy discussions that have led to this decision”. He also encouraged everyone involved to make these dates work.

Officials explained in a press release that discussions, which have been going on for some time, were an effort to make better decisions about how, using the successes of regional partners as models, to host Cayman Carnival as a unified carnival and create an outstanding experience.

The ministry considered a number of issues that caused some difficulties. The first weekend in May clashes with the Bahamas Carnival and would leave Cayman Carnival competing for the same international tourism dollar. But the second weekend falls on Mother’s Day, which some believe would limit the tourist numbers. And the third weekend would conflict with the Cayman Brac event, Bracchanal, preventing tourists and residents from taking part in both.

During the discussions, the long weekend in June was explored as another option but there were concerns because the Queen’s birthday celebrations in George Town would clash with the parade.

So, despite the question mark over the Mother’s Day weekend, the main Grand Cayman Carnivals will happen on the weekend of the 9/10 May 2020.