ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – The record-breaking tourism season in the Caribbean continues as Grenada joins the list of Caribbean territories that have recorded an increase in visitor arrivals thus far in 2019.
Grenada recorded a slight increase visitor arrivals during the first six months of 2019 when compared to the same period last year, according to figures released by the island’s tourism authority.
“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 per cent 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 per cent growth,” the GTA said in a statement.
It said the stayover market, which represents the sector’s most lucrative visitor, grew by 3.81 per cent with 82,399 visitors staying in hotels, guesthouses and villa accommodations. The average length of stay of these visitors from the source markets is 8.5 days.
GTA said that the United States accounted for 45 per cent of the market share, followed by the United Kingdom with 17 per cent and the Canadian market with 12 per cent.
“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.”
The GTA said that the cruise ship sector also experienced growth for the same period.
“We were able to hold our own with a slight increase of 1.33 per cent 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 added.
The Yachting sector arrivals for the period remained flat with 15,318 compared to 15,420 in 2018.
Grenada now joins St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and Jamaica, all of which have also recorded an increase of visitor arrivals since the beginning of 2019.
