(St. George’s, Grenada) 6th February 2017—On Friday January 20, 2017, a team led by the newly appointed CEO of the Grenada Tourism Authority, Ms. Patricia Maher, visited the Sister Isles of Carriacou and Petite Martinique. The purpose of the visit was to officially introduce the CEO to stakeholders after her appointment to the position on 19th December, 2016.  Additionally, the team shared their 2017 strategic plans in the areas of Product Development, Marketing, Quality Assurance, Nautical Development and Research and Statistics.

After visiting radio stations on the island for live interviews, the team held discussions with the festival representatives for the Parang Festival and Carriacou Regatta.  This was followed by the Carriacou Stakeholder meeting which included stakeholders from restaurants, hotels, dive shops, taxi associations, tour guides, and water taxi operators. The stakeholder meeting in Petite Martinique had representation from both the private and public sectors. The meetings were geared to gather feedback from the stakeholders and were highly interactive.  Many of the suggestions highlighted the importance of improving transportations services from mainland Grenada to the Sister Isles via air and sea. In addition, increased marketing and promotions and having more cruise calls among were also topics of interest emphasised by the stakeholders.

Further, the team also met with Government Officials led by the Hon. Elvin Nimrod. Minister for Legal Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Carriacou and Petite Martinique Affairs and Local Government to discuss current matters affecting the tourism industry and to strengthen the existing partnerships between sectors.

The GTA Officials will endeavour to integrate and implement the recommendations where applicable, to better serve the tourism stakeholders in Carriacou & Petite Martinique, as the GTA aims to achieve their primary goals of increasing visitor arrivals and increasing visitor spend to these two islands.