ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada – Grenada has recorded a 12.5 percent decline in stayover arrivals for the first five months of this year, but officials are hopeful of a rebound in the remainder of 2025.
Policy Analyst in the Ministry of Finance, Ciera Duncan, who was presenting a report on the performance of the economy for the first five months of this year, said that the data showed that stayover arrivals from all major markets had declined significantly.
“What we see is that there were tremendous declines in the first five months of the year. We have seen a decline in records from advanced economies. If we look at the United States, Europe and Canada you will see they have the highest decline,” Duncan said.
“This has resulted in an overall 12.5 percent decline in overall stayover arrivals as compared to the first five months of 2024,” she said, noting also that the Caribbean stayover arrivals was also “a bit disheartening.
“There has also been a decline of Caribbean stayover arrival by 16.6 per cent and when we had consultations with stakeholders in the tourism sector, they were explaining to us that there are many factors that can cause this.
“And one of these is that there is such a high airlift cost that as well as there are limited direct flights between Caribbean islands. These are things that are faced within the tourism sector as well as the international developments that are happening right now,” Duncan added.
A review of the data for the first three months of 2024 and 2025 showed a high difference, with Duncan saying that this is because of the economic conditions that Grenada had in 2024. “The fact is, this time last year we were not faced with this high tension and uncertainty within the economy as well as we were not struck with Hurricane Beryl as yet as well as we had the 50th Independence celebrations as well as CARIFTA games,” she said.
