Grenada has reported a bounce back in holidaymakers this winter to surpass pre-pandemic levels.
November arrivals to the island were 17% above the same month in 2019 with a total of 14,232 visitors.
The Grenada Tourism Authority also projects that last month will surpass the previous high of December 2019.
The upswing follows the return of all international flights in the autumn, including the expansion of British Airways’ schedule from Gatwick, which now includes a third flight a week on Sundays.
Air Canada now has a twice weekly service and Sunwing Airlines operates flights every Sunday from Toronto. Condor Airlines also returned with a direct flight from Frankfurt and Caribbean Airlines has a daily service from Trinidad and Tobago.
The second annual tour operators marketplace saw representatives from the UK, US and Canada meet with local hoteliers and tourism stakeholders for one-on-one meetings, while also visiting the sister isles of Carriacou and Petite Martinique. November also saw Grenada hosting a number of major conferences.
GTA chief executive Petra Roach said: “During the pandemic, we did a lot of groundwork putting systems in place to create a more efficient operation and also to evaluate our activity.
“We engaged new PR teams in North America and the UK and strengthened our overseas sales teams.
“Our digital footprint has expanded significantly which has given us a much more cost effective marketing reach.
“A lot of time was prioritised for deepening the relationships with our distribution channels in the marketplace, such as our travel agent and tour operator partners, to better understand how their businesses align with our product.
“We continue to build our brand equity so that travellers keep Grenada in their consideration of destinations they want to visit. We are laser focused on attracting visitors who want to take advantage of our safe environment, numerous community initiatives and who want to get out and about.”
Tourism minister Lennox Andrews added: “We are heartened to see our arrival figures rebound so strongly with September, October and November showing increases of 11%, 6% and 17% respectively over the previous banner year of 2019.
“This is historically the highest November arrivals recorded. It speaks to a sound and focused strategy where connectivity and accessibility to our tri-island state remain highly prioritised.
“We as a government are committed to ensuring that we provide every opportunity for our people to benefit from this industry.”