The Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA) is continuing to implement key strategic cruise business actions in preparation for the safe and gradual resumption of the industry. One of these actions is the completion of an Aquila Centre for Cruise Excellence destination readiness workshop for public and private sector cruise teams including the Grenada Ports Authority, Ministry of Health, Customs, Grenreal, Immigration, Local Agents and Tour Operators.

As part of the workshop (September to October) dubbed ‘How To’, stakeholders completed the five-part series focused on health and safety as well as maintaining the quality of Pure Grenada experiences based on the new way of doing business in the Tourism industry. Some of the major topics included preparing your community to welcome cruise, building an operational plan that adapts with change, reimagining product development and guest experiences, creating a culture of service and delivering wow experiences for cruise lines and guests.

Nautical Development Manager at the GTA Nikoyan Roberts expressed her appreciation of the stakeholders’ commitment to the program. She further stated, “As a destination we want to deliver “WOW” experiences to cruise guests, while observing the strictest protocols. I believe our team has already visualized what these experiences will look like. We have a small cruise ship SeaDream arriving on November 13 where we can practice and refine our learnings over the coming weeks.”

CEO of the GTA Patricia Maher was also keen to see that one of the modules delved into having an adaptable cruise operational plan. She further stated, “We’re living in a different time and we have to adapt to the new way of doing business in Tourism. We can offer smaller, more personalized group tours to our many unique experiences on land and at sea. Now is the time to train and prepare to welcome cruise ships back in a safe, efficient, and mutually beneficial way in the year ahead.”

Team Grenada also participated in recent Seatrade Cruise Global virtual meetings. It was an opportunity for the team to learn about current cruise trends as well as network with cruise decision-makers while promoting the global digital health and safety campaign, Pure Grenada Just For You. Grenada’s Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Climate Resilience and the Environment Hon. Dr. Clarice Modeste-Curwen M.P. featured prominently during the event when she delivered a cruise update interview for Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. Coming out of the high-level discussions with cruise lines there are opportunities for Grenada to be included in more Southern Caribbean cruise itineraries with homeporting in Barbados. Prior to the crisis, our main cruise markets were UK and European guests and now we have the opportunity to target North Americans who can fly to Barbados and sail on shorter cruises to Grenada and beyond in 2021.