Grenada Tourism Riding High With New Hotels, More Airlift

Grenada is on a roll, with a slew of new resorts and hotels and more ways to get there.

TravelPulse Canada sat down the other day with Francine Stewart of the Grenada Tourism Authority, who was in Toronto for last week’s Caribbean Tourism Organization meetings with travel and tourism officials and travel media.

“Canada is very important to us,” Stewart said. “Visits from Canada last year were up 19% from 2017.”

Stewart said the tourism authority was able to work with Air Canada to boost flights from Toronto, the origin point for all AC flights to Grenada. Instead of two in winter and one for a short time in summer, there are now three weekly flights in winter and two on a year-round basis.

“We were talking with Air Canada this week in the hopes of making that third flight a year-round one as well,” she said.

Sunwing also flies to Grenada from Toronto.

Having a series of spiffy new resorts should help make that argument. Silversands Grenada opened its doors on December 1. Its 43 suites and nine residential villas are situated on Grand Anse Beach and feature a minimalist design. Two dining venues, The Spa by Silversands is a unique sanctuary with four treatment rooms, a sauna, hammam and fitness center anchored around a private swimming pool and cabanas.

The Royalton Grenada Resort and Spa (from Sunwing) is set to open March 1, 2020 and will be the largest hotel on the island with 269 luxury suites on Tamarind Bay. Other features include a world-class spa, a kid’s club and a health and wellness program. Formerly The Grenadian by Rex Resorts, Royalton Grenada will renovate the entire property and will also include the option for guests to upgrade to butler service.

A new Kimpton Kawana Bay is slated to open next year, giving the island several posh, new resorts for agents to book.

True Blue Bay Boutique Resort opened Grenada’s first environmentally friendly hotel rooms in February 2019. The resort has 22 self-sustainable rooms with solar-heated water and ethically sourced wood for furniture wherever possible. Additionally, the hotel welcomed three wheelchair accessible rooms as well as balconies with a view of the garden or bay.

Six Senses La Sagesse, Grenada is scheduled to open in 2022 and will be set along a beach on the southern part of the island

Calabash Luxury Boutique Resort has renovated its Beach Club restaurant to expose interiors to panoramic views of the beach and bay with new lounge furniture for a fresh, new look.

On top of that, roughly one in four students at St. George’s University on Grenada are Canadian, which creates a solid demand for flights.

Stewart said the tourism authority will be hosting ten Canadian agents in September for a five or six-night stay.

Grenada is best known as the “Spice Island of the Caribbean” for its cinnamon and nutmeg production.

“We have five chocolate producers, each with a different taste. They range from 60 to 70 to 100% in terms of cacao. We also have coconut chocolate, nutmeg chocolate and cinnamon chocolate. You can have a chocolate massage, we have chocolate yoga, too.”

Visitors can take “Tree to Bar” tours of various chocolate places to find out how cacao is grown and how the chocolate is produced, Stewart said.

The island’s annual Chocolate Festival runs in early May.

Grenada is home to some 40 white sandy beaches, 15 waterfalls (many of them easily accessible), 30 dive sites and three rum distilleries. One of the dive sites is an underwater sculpture park, the first in the Caribbean.

There’s also a nine-hole golf course that may not win awards but is fun to play and popular with locals, which gives curious visitors a chance to mingle with normal folks away from the hotel or resort.

“We want our visitors to get out and explore and really experience Grenada,” Stewart said.

The resorts are wonderful, but she encourages visitors to also try local guest houses and boutique hotels such as True Blue Bay.

The island of Grenada has the largest population, but the nation also includes Carriacou and Petite Martinique, which are just a short sail from The Grenadines. Both Carriacou and Petite Martinique have places to stay and are famous for their boat-building cultures.

Stewart said Grenada’s friendly people might be the country’s best asset and that Grenada is extremely safe for visitors.