ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada – Grenada is still open for business! That was the message delivered to travel partners in the United Kingdom by Randall Dolland, Chairman of the Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA) and Petra Roach Chief Executive Officer.
Randall Dolland, Chairman Grenada Tourism AuthorityThe team visited the UK, to update partners on the rebuilding efforts on the mainland and in the sister islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique which sustained the brunt of the damage caused by hurricane Beryl which unleased up to150mph winds on the islands.
The United Kingdom is one of Grenada’s major source markets which showed strong growth of 30 percent increase in visitor arrivals to the island in the first half of this year.
Roach is confident that the deceleration of the growth in this quarter attributed to the passing of the hurricane, will change in the short to medium term.
“Grenada continues to be a very well-loved destination in the UK. We had actually been experiencing a 30% growth for the first six months of the year, and with passing of Beryl, that has slowed down our growth,” Roach said, adding that “we expect that, with continued focus on the market, with continued communication, with continued marketing activations that we can get back on track.”
The United Kingdom is the second largest source market for the GTA, following behind the United States, according to Global Data’s Caribbean Destination Tourism Report, published in January.
Chairman Dolland believed Grenada needs to position itself to use the opportunities that will come for growth in its tourism sector, in the post-Beryl era.
Petra Roach, CEO Grenada Tourism Authority
“Although we have this tragedy, we still have an amazing opportunity ahead of us. With every sort of crisis, it is an opportunity, and now the opportunity is to go forward tell the story of Grenada, let everyone know that Grenada is open for business.”
The GTA recently announced the cancellation of its inaugural “Carriacou Carnival Cool Down” campaign which was supposed to encourage visitors for carnival to visit and spend some time on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique after revelling on the mainland and before returning to their countries of residence.
However, after Hurricane Beryl destroyed approximately 98 percent of the infrastructure and completely destroyed the economies of the islands, the GTA scaled back the campaign saying that they will talk about the campaign but focus on getting visitors to send their tangible support this year instead of visiting the sister islands.
