From Caribbean News Now

ST GEORGE’S, Grenada – On the heels of double-digit growth and a landmark total visitor arrival of 528,077 in 2018, the Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA) is delighted to report positive growth in total visitor arrivals of one percent for the first half of 2019. 

The destination welcomed a total of 318,559 visitors between January to June 2019 compared to 314,916 for the same period in 2018; this represents a 1.15 percent growth.

The stayover market, which represents our most lucrative visitor, grew by 3.81 percent with 82,399 visitors staying in our hotels, guesthouses and villa accommodations.  The average length of stay of these visitors from our source markets is 8.5 days. The US accounts for 45 percent of our market share, followed by the UK with 17 percent and the Canadian market with 12 percent. 

Our focus is on expanding our reach in our traditional source markets and we now have four international gateways in the US for the upcoming Winter Season including JFK New York, Miami International, Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina.

We were able to hold our own with a slight increase of 1.33 percent in cruise visitor arrivals of 223,051 for the period compared with the phenomenal growth numbers of 220,125 last year. This is testimony of the hard work by the team to increase engagement with the cruise lines and keep Grenada top of mind with cruise executives.

The GTA is planning an Aquila Professional Tour Guide training in September for our public and private stakeholders to enhance the customer experience in the destination.

The Yachting sector arrivals for the period remained flat with 15,318 compared to 15,420 in 2018. Grenada’s geographical location south of the hurricane belt should augur well for these numbers in the coming months. Port Louis Camper & Nicholson Marina is currently expanding its berths by 50 percent to accommodate more yachts for the Winter Season.

The GTA calculates revenue numbers based on monthly visitor expenditure surveys. These survey results indicate that the average daily spend is approx. EC$ 306 for the period January to June 2019. Total revenue generated for the period was EC$ 233,835,812 in the destination.

For more on this story go to: https://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/2019/07/31/grenada-visitor-arrivals-showing-strong-results-in-2019/