Winter Cruising Season Begins in Grenada

The Grenada Tourism Authority has announced that the Caribbean island nation’s 2022-2023 cruising season has officially started.

The season commenced on Friday, October 21st with the arrival of Celebrity Summit, which carried 1,500 passengers to the port. 202 cruise calls are scheduled for Grenada this season, with an expected passenger count of 377,394. This represents an 11 percent increase from the busy 2018-2019 season.

“Grenada is ready for the 2022-23 cruise season. In preparation, the GTA has facilitated training and workshop sessions focused on professional development, hospitality and cultural engagement sessions, aimed at enhancing service excellence.

Cruise tourism provides benefits for port destinations including boosted revenue, job creation, professional development, and cultural exchange. The season boosts the revenues of local businesses such as taxi companies, tour operators, local spice and craft vendors, artisans, and restaurants.

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“Grenada is ready for the 2022-23 cruise season,” said CEO of the Grenada Tourism Authority Petra Roach. “In preparation, the GTA has facilitated training and workshop sessions focused on professional development, hospitality and cultural engagement sessions, aimed at enhancing service excellence.”

“This is part of an overall strategy to ensure our tourism stakeholders such as taxi operators, artisans and vendors are prepared for the season and will provide high quality, culturally sound and professional services that enhance our destination marketing. Many cruise visitors are repeat visitors who choose to return to the destinations where they have had the best and most authentic experiences.”

Speaking during the opening ceremony at the Melville street welcome center, The Honorable Lennox Andrews, Minister of Tourism, was optimistic about the growth in the cruise sector. “Over the years, our team at the Grenada Tourism Authority has established an excellent network of industry partners as well as various public and private stakeholders and together they have all collaborated to take full advantage of the benefits of the cruise industry.”

Tourism officials in Grenada are expecting the 2022-2023 season to be another milestone year for the country.

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