by Linda Straker
- German market is important for Grenada
- Delegation led by Tourism Minister Clarice Modeste
Grenada is one of the 181 countries whose tourism product is on display at ITB Berlin – the world’s lead travel trade show, and although representatives from the country attended the event before, 2019 is a special year because it’s the first time the country purchased a booth.
Previously Grenada was displayed as part of the general Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) booth which provides an opportunity for the collective display of the Caribbean destinations.
“Our stand is selling pureness – the Spice of Caribbean,” said Francine Stewart, Marketing Manager in an interview with CTO’s Communications Manager Johnson Johnrose. It was broadcast live via Facebook.
IBT 2019 began on 6 March and will conclude on 10 March 2019.
“First time we have a stand at ITB 2019, and we are doing okay. Of course, we are busy, the Germany market is a very important market for Pure Grenada,” she told Johnrose, explaining that one of the focus is on Grenada’s chocolate.
“We are reminding everybody that we have 5 chocolate factories in Grenada right now and we are giving samples. The Germans love chocolate,” she said.
“That is the story we are telling. We are selling health and wellness, we are telling the story of our beaches, we are telling the story of our dive sites, we are telling the story of our 15 waterfalls. We are telling the full story,” she added.
Stewart said that one of the benefits of the stand is the holding of direct meetings with travel operators and agents. “This can beef up business for us because the German market is important for the island.”
The Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA) delegation to ITB 2019 is led by Tourism Minister Clarice Modeste and includes GTA’s Chief Executive Officer Patricia Maher, Marketing Executive for Germany Shanai St Bernard and Stewart. Also selling their properties directly at the meeting are representatives from Silversands, La Luna, Mt Edgecombe, St James Travel and Tours, Spice Island Beach Resort and Blue Horizon Garden Resort.
Grenada received more than 500,000 visitors in 2018 but there was a slight decline in German visitors in 2018 when compared to the 2017 figures. In 2017 there were 2,499 visitors and in 2018 there were 2,457. Condor offers a seasonal weekly flight to Grenada during the winter season.
I just returned from my homeland a week ago , it was a short trip March 7th to the 14th to be exact, it was a great trip no matter how short it was , I stayed at the Radisson beach resort ,wonderful place ,great staff with always a smile ,just like I remember our people to be . for those of you who haven’t been home in a while its time to visit, its great to listen to some the comments posted here ,but there is an old saying that seeing is believing , it was a great pleasure to wake in the morning look out my balcony and see a cruise ship every day in the port of St Georges. My concern however lies with some of the infrastructure within the city limits , along with the cleanliness of the country ,we are definitely on the right path when it comes to tourism by we cannot and must not take for granted that we have all what it takes to keep increasing those numbers. the ministry of tourism must also invest interest internally and not just externally . We are marketing Grenada as a whole ,and the areas that visitors travel to must be kept up to standards along with the rest of the country, the countless amounts of trash laying around in the gutters must be taken care off ,the impassable side streets must be address ,they present a danger to everyone . Grenada used to be much more sanitary ,so I am pleading to the ministry of tourism please do something about these issues ,if we are to continue our growth in this area ,we cannot continue to ignore some of the main building blocks that are considered to essential and critical to the tourism industry.
Eventually, that stuff just started to be removed.
ROB: I’m always surprised by the folks who do back again to and begin as Episode step
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