In a press conference held today at its Burn’s Point headquarters, the Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA) announced the official tourist arrivals data for 2017 from target source markets USA, Canada, the Caribbean, Germany and the UK.
In the report, overall stayover arrivals for 2017 (146,359) were up more than 8% when compared to 2016 (135,372). These numbers are important for the country, as stayover arrivals spend in the destination is the highest of all the visitors to our shores.
With the US being Pure Grenada’s largest source market, the GTA developed and implemented strategic initiatives, which included increased trade show attendance and press trips. As a result, the US market recorded the highest increase of 16% with 67,250 tourist arrivals to the destination positioning Pure Grenada at the top of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation’s (CTO) list of destinations with registered growth in 2017.
Other source markets that reported an increase in arrivals included Canada with a 6% increase (14,580), Germany, 21% increase (2,499) and the Caribbean, 8% increase (27,113) with Trinidad & Tobago registering a 14% increase (15,692). The GTA had implemented a year-round focus on Trinidad & Tobago with new travel agent familiarisation trips, increased advertising and a destination focused presentation to the media and travel trade.
The UK arrivals (25,531) decreased by 7% and all efforts were engaged to address this decline culminating with the GTA hosting a Grenada stand at the World Travel Market in London in November 2017. The rest of Europe arrivals (5,187) increased by 7%.
Year on year, yachting arrivals (21,993) increased by 8% and cruise passengers (299,449) decreased slightly by 5% while cruise ship calls (291) increased by 13%.
“December 2017 saw growth in cruise visitor arrivals by 25% over December 2016 and we are continuing to see positive movement in these numbers,” said Nautical Development Manager, Nikoyan Roberts, who is working well with the key stakeholders to maximise the destination’s strengths in this sector.
CEO of the Grenada Tourism Authority, Patricia Maher, is very pleased with the overall statistical performance. “We are even more excited about the fact that Grenada is trending as a destination in the global tourism industry. The future for Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique looks bright with new hotels and new attractions opening in the next 2 years.”
Chairman of the Grenada Tourism Authority, Rodney George said, “The decision of the Board of the GTA to employ the USA based Public Relations firm, Cheryl Andrews Marketing Communications Inc is really paying dividends as exemplified by the wide exposure that Grenada is receiving in regional and international print and digital media, and the increased tourist arrivals from the USA and Canada.”
Team Grenada is working hard to ensure that visitors get to experience our island life in a real, authentic, memorable way and they will share Pure Grenada, the Spice of the Caribbean with the world. 2018 is projected to be a busy year for all of our stakeholders as everyone continues to work together to keep Grenada trending in the global tourism industry.
GTA
