Structures are being put in place to recapture the German and other European tourism market and the first major undertaking by the Grenada Tourism Authority to that market is participating in ITB Berlin which will run from 5–9 March.
Described as the world’s largest tourism convention, ITB Berlin Convention provides unique opportunities to benefit from the leading think tank of the global tourism industry. Head of Marketing at the GTA Sheldon Keens–Douglas said that the potential for Grenada in the European market is great.
“It’s one of the markets that we believe has great potential for Grenada, and our aim is to recapture that market which brought a significant number of visitors years ago, especially when we had the direct flight out of Germany,” he said while explaining that the German market was once Grenada’s fifth largest market.
The delegation to ITB is lead by Tourism Minister Alexandria Otway-Noel, and the delegation will have more than 30 meetings with tour and travel operators and tourism partners which can assist in pushing the message that Grenada is the place to visit year round and not just for a winter break.
The four-day convention will see the first two days dedicated to traders in the tourism field, and the last two days will be the exhibition where more than 170,000 visitors are expected to browse through the booths.
Keens-Douglas said, “Grenada is returning to the Germany market. We are starting by having a presence in ITB after three years of not attending. We will display all the tourism industry offers as we present our new brand of Pure Grenada.”
With less than 2,000 rooms Grenada’s plan is to attract the more affluent visitors instead of the mass visitors. “We are not looking for nor pushing for mass tourism, as there other islands where our entire room stock is one property. Our strategy is to attractive the more affluent,” he said.
By Linda Straker
