Travel advisors are key to the Spice Island of Grenada increasing its impact in the Canadian market and the head of its tourist board says it intends plans to work harder – and spend – in this country to make it so.
“We feel we have such a strong proposition, if we can just educate the travel agents to sell us,” Grenada Tourism Authority CEO Petra Roach told Travel Industry Today during a mission to Toronto last week.
Roach, along with GTA chairman Randall Dolland, along with director of sales for Canada Sekou Stroude, were meeting with airlines and tour operators in the city, as well as hosting events for the media and travel advisors, the latter including visits to Oakville and St. Catharines, Ont.
The GTA naturally has its own specialist program for agents, but Roach says, “it’s not just that,” citing the current mission as one example of its mandate to “invest in travel agents.”
Certainly, the GTA is helped by strong airlift from Canada, which includes year-round Air Canada service, including twice-weekly flights during the winter.
And WestJet just announced a new direct flight from Toronto to Grenada, starting on Nov. 3 and operating weekly until April 27, 2025 – a service that the GTA says “marks a significant step in our efforts to increase accessibility for first-time visitors and diaspora alike.”
Canadian visitors, which numbered about 13,000 in the first half of 2024 (comprising the island’s 4th largest market), spend an average of 10 to 14 days on the tiny, southern Caribbean Island, prompting Dolland to enthuse: “Canada is a wonderful market for us.”
At only 33 km long, but also encompassing neighbouring Carriacou and Petite Martinique (the two islands are well on their way to recovery from damage caused by Hurricane Beryl earlier this summer), visitors will find soft adventure activities on-island, and off, ranging from hiking and four-wheel drive excursions to paddle boarding and snorkelling/diving, the latter amongst the world’s best, featuring wrecks, real and artificial reefs, and an underwater sculpture park (with a second due to open in Carriacou in September). And sailing and yachting are ubiquitous (with rental and charters available).
There are also rum distilleries, chocolate factories, a spice market, and historical attractions, while festivals, like Spicemas in August, dot the calendar year-round.
And the beaches! – both black and white sand varieties – which notably feature acclaimed Grand Anse, plus Paradise Beach, recently voted the top beach in the Caribbean by USA Today.
The island was also named a “Culinary Capital” by The World Food Travel Association.
With so many idyllic attributes, the destination is also naturally big on romance, and ideal for weddings and honeymoons.
Selling Grenada
Roach notes that the key to selling Grenada to Canadians is the understanding that the island is boutique by nature and not suited to mass market travel. There are only three all-inclusives on the island: Sandals, Royalton, and the Spice Island Beach Resort.
“I feel we really have to go niche, with travel advisors selling independent tours. We don’t want to be sold on price,” says Roach.
As such, she acknowledges, Grenada may be a harder sell to Canadian sunseekers because of the propensity to simply “fall back” on bigger, cheaper destinations like Mexico.
But for those who do visit, Dolland promises that Grenada is great place to relax and kick-back. “It’s a place you go to re-connect, and really rejuvenate,” he says, adding “We have a lot to offer; we’re not the average everyday destination.”
And Stroude notes that Grenada is also a very safe destination for visitors.
And while laughing that the island is known for simply smelling good (with an abundance of nutmeg, ginger, vanilla, and cinnamon, amongst other spices), he says, “It’s the people on the island that are really the spice. The people are special.”
“We really go above and beyond,” he assures, “to make sure that everyone is happy!”