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HOME	APRIL 30th, 2005

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APR 30

Grenada's Tourism Minister Brenda Hood has welcomed the return of Air Jamaica to Grenada skies saying that the country's tourism sector may have been crippled without the direct service out of the United States. She said that Air Jamaica was currently the only carrier operating a direct service out of the United States and the carrier had become extremely popular among Grenadians.

"The load factor in and out of Grenada has been 80% or more, and it is clear that Grenadians have adopted Air Jamaica as their carrier as it is used by several nationals seeking to return home", she said. Air Jamaica returned to the Point Saline International Airport (PSIA) last Saturday after a four week break during which the company said several of its aircraft were undergoing a rigid maintenance programme.

During that period Air Jamaica's services to Barbados and St. Lucia were also interrupted. Services to Barbados have also resumed. The Minister said that during the break and before Air Jamaica began serving the island, American Eagle provided the sole connection to the USA via the Puerto Rico hub. She stressed that with the re-instatement of the Air Jamaica service, Grenadians can now fly in and out of New York three times a week.

"The fact that this is a non-stop service makes it even more attractive for Grenadians and other persons wanting to visit Grenada, so we are actually very pleased with the current schedule", she said. Minister Hood indicated that once the peak season kicks in and during the winter season, her Government was likely to make a case for an additional service, as by then work on the refurbishment and repairs to several resorts on the island would have been completed and they would be ready for business again. "As you know we had major problems following the passage of Hurricane Ivan and we expect that once word goes out that our hotel plants have been restored and ready to accept guests, we expect to see an increase in bookings for Grenada", she said.

"I am certain that if there is a demand and Air Jamaica does have the capacity to meet it, we will approach them with a view to increasing their flights into Grenada", she added. Minister Hood said that after the Air Jamaica pull out and more recently she has had discussions with the company and received the assurance that they were in Grenada to stay. She spoke of being surprised that the airline had decided not to return to St. Lucia but the explanation that the island was adequately served seemed logical as St.Lucia now had a number of North American carriers operating there.

The Minister said that generally Grenada Cruise sector had performed well in the post Ivan period with an increase of 26 per cent in arrivals as compared to 2003/04. She pointed out that this was partly due to the commissioning of a new cruise facility in December which was now capable of accommodating the new mega ships.

Hood disclosed that stay-over passengers did not fear as well due to the state of the island's hotel stock which was still under repairs. "We expect to have 80% of our rooms fully operational later this year and they will be of far better quality as many of the hoteliers have taken the opportunity to improve their room stock so that by year-end we will have a far better tourism plant on the island", she remarked.