Tourism officials attend annual cruise conference

AS Grenada prepares to welcome its first cruise ship on October 25 and at the same time face the reality that less ships are scheduled to berth at Port St. George’s, its tourism representatives are expected to make a strong bid for increased cruise bookings at the 19th Annual Cruise Conference and Trade Show.

Held in Curacao from October 1 to 5, 2012, the annual Cruise Conference provides an opportunity for tourism officials to promote their destination and to hold one-on-one meetings with cruise partners.

Tourism Minister, Dr. George Vincent, says negotiations for new cruise lines and investment opportunities for the tourism sector is his main focus at the conference.

“We have had severe competition from other destinations with the geographical advantage …however, I have no doubt that we can hold our own as a destination of choice and we will continue to  make a case for ourselves,” the Tourism Minister said ahead of the Curacao conference, according to a statement from his Ministry.

Agents for cruise liners have confirmed that there is a 20 per cent reduction in ships scheduled to visit Grenada for the 2012/2013 cruise year, which ends in April 2013. Among the ships reducing calls are Princess and Royal Caribbean.

Grenada is also expected to have representatives at the annual Caribbean Tourism Organisation’s State of the Industry Conference, scheduled for St. Kitts from October 10 to 12, 2012.

Tourism practitioners and policymakers will gather at the annual CTO State of the Tourism Industry Conference to review the state of the regional industry and at the same time identify ways and means of addressing concerns and challenges within the sector.

A statement from CTO said that the burning and vexing issue of affordable and reliable intra-regional travel will be the focus of attention when the new LIAT CEO, Captain Ian Brunton, makes his maiden appearance at the region’s premier tourism gathering. 

Brunton, who took over at the helm of the regional carrier at the beginning of August, will join a panel of creative thinkers and doers seeking to identify solutions to a problem which has plagued Carib bean travellers for a number of years. 

The session, “The Challenge of Regional Transportation – Where is the Solution?”, is one of several explosive and provocation plenaries organised for the Con ference. (LS)