Gay Nagle Myers
“We must get tourism going again.”
That clarion call was sounded by Clarice Modeste-Curwen, Grenada’s minister of tourism, during a recent Zoom session where the new leadership team of the Grenada Tourism Authority outlined plans and goals to jumpstart tourism’s rebound.
Petra Roach, new CEO of the Grenada Tourism Authority, minced no words.
“We’ve gone through a catastrophic situation with Covid,” Roach said. “Ask any farmer or fisherman how he’s doing, and he’ll say that it’s been rough.”
“We must make a step change in how tourism in Grenada is perceived,” she said.
Several action plans Roach outlined include highlighting the people of Grenada through their stories and histories. “Grenadians are the eyes and ears of our tourism industry,” she said. “They are our natural assets, and we must define them as we do our health and wellness offerings, our hiking trails and our national parks.”
The London-based World Food Travel Association in June named Grenada and its sister islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique as the world’s first “Culinary Capital.” Culinary Capitals is a tourism program devised by the association to spotlight culinary cultures around the world as tourism begins to recover after its long Covid hiatus.
With that designation, Roach said Grenada’s tourism authority intends to invest more in its local chefs through on-island restaurant promotions, videos and cooking demonstrations highlighting the destination’s cuisine. The plan would be to attract “foodie” travelers who want to explore the link between food and culture, from fine dining to beachside restaurants and street food.
Grenada also wants to expand its footprint and offerings in the voluntourism sector, which Roach described as being “travel with a purpose.”
“It’s a big element of our offerings, but we must drive awareness to attract this opportunity for travelers, especially the millennials who want to give back when traveling and are seeking the destination and the opportunities to do just that,” she said.
She pointed out that the “pie is getting smaller. Travelers today have so many choices in where to go. Tour operators are selling thousands of destinations, and many do not have the time or knowledge it requires to explain the added value that Grenada offers.
Grenada is not a mass-market destination, and “we won’t promote it that way,” Roach said.
The tourism authority has worked closely in past months with its airline partners to regain its pre-Covid airlift. By the end of July, the full complement of U.K. seats will be on stream. U.S. flights will be back on line by December, and the Canadian flights will be operational in November, according to Roach.
Cherise David-Hamid, the Grenada Tourism Authority’s sales and marketing manager, said that Grenada’s accommodation picture is bright, with more than 95 hotels, cottages and villas offering more than 2,400 rooms in all price categories.
“There’s more in that pipeline,” David-Hamid said. “It’s been a quiet time in Grenada, but now is the time to come on strong, create a lot of buzz.”
Grenada is looking closely at its distribution channels and plans to expand the network to include smaller, more boutique operators.
Covid has had strong Covid management, with less than 170 cases of Covid since the pandemic began. More than 35,000 Grenadians have been vaccinated, with close to 20,000 having had one dose of the vaccine and 14,000 having had two shots.
There’s pressure on to get more residents vaccinated, especially as the variants are taking a toll in other destinations, primarily among the unvaccinated.