Tourism
2011, the USA was our largest source market of 31% followed by UK in the high 20%. Canada is an important market that we need to push also. The regional market is a very cost efficient market for us to target, and one that we have traditionally been very successful with. Airlift? Airlift is an ongoing challenge. The problem is not attracting new carriers, it’s the affordability and balancing the cost of the investment. As long as the trickle down benefits the industry, and it exceeds the subsidy, then it’s of value to the destination. Challenges facing the Grenada Tourism product? Airlift and Room stock. We need more of both. They go hand in hand. We need to break the 2,000 Hotel rooms mark, to reach critical mass, that is the number that makes airlift more viable. We are currently under 1,500 sellable rooms, but with 2 new branded hotels in the 250 room range, we could easily reach that figure. Focus? We have to market more effectively what we have, rather than trying to invent something new. We need to get more ‘bums on seats and heads on beds’. However, there is a need for more of another type of room stock on the island, those properties that are weathering this storm the best, are at the higher end. Mass Market Tourism? Grenada is not and never should be a Mass Market destination. The focus should be on low volume but high value. We are a higher end destination, attracting a bespoke hotel operator such as ‘Four Seasons’ is exactly the track we have to be on. ‘The Halo Effect’ of that would be the further development of more 5 star boutique type hotels where you are able to attract high spending individuals. The future of Grenada’s Tourism? I would like to see Grenada as ‘The Preferred Premier Destination’, not just within the Caribbean but Globally. During my tenure as Director of Tourism, a significant amount of my time was spent reaching out to the private sector and recognizing both private and public investment. I have started the process and sometimes getting that momentum going is the hardest part.
We need to break the 2,000 Hotel rooms mark, to reach critical mass, that is the number that makes airlift more viable
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