On July 1, 2024, the powerful Category 4 Hurricane Beryl destroyed almost all of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, two of the three islands that make up Grenada.
These islands were subsequently forced to do so close to for the business community to streamline cleanup efforts, assess the extent of the destruction, and provide assistance to thousands of Grenadians who have lost their homes and livelihoods.
“The loss of life, destruction of property and displacement of livelihoods on these two islands is something that cannot be expressed in numbers. It will be a long road to recovery for our sister islands as we work to rebuild in the most sustainable way possible, but we are resilient people and are determined to showcase the beauty of the Spice Isle to our visitors.” Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said after witnessing the devastation.
Fortunately, mainland Grenada (St. Patrick) suffered little damage and hotels were able to keep their doors open to both locals and international travelers.
Nevertheless, bookings from Grenada’s main source markets, such as the United States and Canada, fell by 19 percent.
In an effort to keep the economy afloat, the government tapped the international traveling community to let them know they were “open for business,” and it’s paying off.
In its latest statistical analysis, travel analytics firm ForwardKeys found that this Caribbean island has “quickly returned to near-normal conditions.” [tourism] levels.”
“The speed of the recovery is a very encouraging sign of the resilience of the region’s tourism economy,” said Olivier Ponti, director of intelligence and marketing at ForwardKeys.
“While bookings were immediately and severely affected, we are seeing a normalization to 2023 levels across the region, which bodes well for the remainder of the season.”
So far, the biggest growth sectors are ‘doing business’ (57 percent growth) and ‘visiting friends and family’ (12 percent).
If you want to contribute to speeding up the recovery of the affected islands, Grenada has decided to go ahead with the famous Spicemas Carnival.
But this time, all funds raised will be donated to Grenada’s new Hurricane Relief Fund to rebuild homes and buildings.
This is a unique opportunity to contribute to a humanitarian cause while enjoying a tropical vacation in the Caribbean.
