St. George’s, June 5, 2010 (GIS) – Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister, Glynis Roberts, has said that airline service to Grenada is moving along “nicely,’’ especially for the summer when the country will be hosting Spicemas, the annual carnival celebration.
The travel needs of would-be visitors are being met through a series of formal arrangements between government and airline officials, as well as with non-government private charters.
Air Jamaica, whose majority owners are now Caribbean Airlines, is returning to Grenada from New York after cutting the route a few months ago. It’s not a formal, negotiated arrangement with the Ministry of Tourism, and so far it appears limited to just the summer months.
“They are doing it on their own accord,’’ Minister Roberts said in reference to Air Jamaica which is proposing a schedule of four flights weekly – Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
The recently announced scheduled of Air Jamaica also targets travellers to Barbados and the Grand Caymans, with the airline offering passenger concessions such as “two bags free in Lovebird Economy class,’’ a 10 percent discount for “accompanied children and senior citizens,’’ and a 15 percent discount on “personal cargo shipments for ticketed passengers.’’
The theme of Grenada’s carnival, which will be officially launched June 12, is: “We Playin’ Ah Wicked Mas.’’ It culminates August 9 and 10.
Many visitors from the United States east coast are expected to travel to Grenada on private charter with Jet Blue, the low-fare airline.
Minister Roberts said Grenada has been in discussion with Jet Blue since last October with a view to arriving at a permanent arrangement to service the Grenada market. No deal has yet been reached.
The Tourism Ministry had better success with Delta Airlines, which will be commencing flights to Grenada next month.
“We have Delta that’s coming in on July 3 with year-round service,’’ Mrs. Roberts said. “They’ll be coming twice weekly, on Wednesday and on Saturday. This augurs well for our industry not only in terms of expatriates coming back home for carnival, but also for people on the eastern seaboard who want to visit Grenada during the festival time.’’
Government is also in talks with Virgin Airlines, West Jet and Air Canada, the Minister announced. “The airlift is coming along nicely,’’ she told the Government Information Service.
The minister said the National Democratic Congress government is promoting “Community and Heritage Tourism,’’ which requires the collective efforts of all Grenadians.
“For tourism to move, our people need to take ownership,’’ said Mrs. Roberts. “We have so much that we can utilise for ourselves and share. Every Caribbean island has sea, sun and sand. We have to find what is different that can pull people to our country.’’
The Tourism Minister also noted the need for Grenada to further upgrade the quality and quantity of its room stock.
“We have to work feverishly to get our room stock in line. There’s no point you’re working to bring people into the country and all the accommodation is not up to capacity or are not to a certain standard,’’ she said.
Mrs. Roberts said a lot of work is being done to improve the tourism product, which benefits other economic sectors.
“The spill-off effects of tourism are vast and wide,’’ she said. “We have to continue working towards developing the industry and sensitising people to understand the benefits we get from tourism.’’
No comments:
Post a Comment