Grenada’s Tourism Minister, Lennox Andrews, speaks of being appreciative of the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA), which recently held what’s seen as a historic meeting on Tourism.
Minister Andrews was among several of his counterparts who attended the occasion in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
REPORT:
The annual convention attracted some eight tourism ministers and two deputy Prime Ministers from around the region taking an indepth look at the tourism sector.
As it was pointed out by ASTA’s Chief Executive officer, Zane Kerby, “The Caribbean is the second largest outbound market from the United States and for the last two years it’s been the top outbound market for overseas travelers from the US also.
He says Western Europe has taken its crown back, but this is still a place where there is enormous demand, and, in fact, he did say 2023 has seen the highest record travel of Americans to the Caribbean in US history.
Grenada’s tourism minister felt that the ASTA convention offered a critical opportunity for the Spice Isle to connect with travel advisors, who are key to driving travelers to the island.
He sees it as a good move when travellers can get a much better appreciation of the Caribbean and of the individual countries, such as Grenada, and therefore they’ll have more meaningful information to provide to their clients about the region, and why their customers can come to the Caribbean and enjoy four or five days of happiness.
Minister Andrews told the travel advisors at the meeting that when they come to the Caribbean, they’ll get a unique experience, maybe for the first time seeing something new, something different, something creative and something original.
He says they are the things that make us and define us, which you will find nowhere else, than only in the Caribbean.
The ASTA CEO says it just underlines the importance of having so many tourism ministers at the meeting, towards the future development and growth of the region’s tourism sector.
It’s been decided that the ASTA 2024 convention will take place Curacao in August next year, hoping to build on the strides made at the meeting this year.
