Grenada will welcome 202 calls for the 2022-23 cruise season, bringing 11 per cent more passengers seen in the benchmark 2018 – 2019 season.
The current season officially got underway on October 21 with the arrival of Celebrity Summit, part of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, carrying 1,500 passengers to the port at Melville Street, St George’s. In total, 377,394 passengers are expected this season. CEO of the Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA), Petra Roach said Grenada is ready.
“In preparation, the GTA has facilitated training and workshop sessions focused on professional development, hospitality and cultural engagement sessions, aimed at enhancing service excellence. This is part of an overall strategy to ensure our tourism stakeholders such as taxi operators, artisans and vendors are prepared for the season and will provide high quality, culturally sound and professional services that enhance our destination marketing,” she said.
“Many cruise visitors are repeat visitors who choose to return to the destinations where they have had the best and most authentic experiences. Our overall growth in this sector speaks to strong consumer interest, our continued focus on expanding our product offering and our commitment to continuous product development and training for our stakeholders’ partners,” Roach added.
Chairman of the GTA board, Randall Dolland spoke of the cruise sector’s importance to economic activity.
“The GTA is committed to improving Grenada’s product offering and increasing the number of ships and calls to our ports. In addition, we want to ensure further employment opportunities for our people,” he said.
Speaking during the opening ceremony at the Melville street welcome centre, Minister of Tourism Lennox Andrews was optimistic about growth in the cruise sector.
“Over the years, our team at the Grenada Tourism Authority has established an excellent network of industry partners as well as various public and private stakeholders and together they have all collaborated to take full advantage of the benefits of the cruise industry,” he said.
