GRENADA DELEGATION RETURNS FROM SUCCESSFUL CARIBBEAN WEEK 2011 IN NEW YORK CITY

SIMON STIELL, DIRECTOR OF TOURISM (LEFT)

NEW YORK, NY, June 20, 2011 - - Grenada’s Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation, the Honorable Peter David, along with Director of Tourism, Simon Stiell, Nicole Moultrie, Senior Marketing Officer and U.S. Sales Director, Christine Noel-Horsford, recently completed a successful journey to New York City for Caribbean Week, a series of public and private events and business meetings conducted by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) on behalf of the member nations of the Caribbean region.

The delegation’s focus was on promoting Grenada’s new tourism marketing initiative, the upcoming Carnival, and the many developments taking place in the country to consumers, media, and travel partners alike.

The week began on Sunday, June 5th with an interfaith celebration entitled, “Giving Thanks through Celebration” at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Brooklyn.  Monday and Tuesday were packed with business meetings and workshops.  Throughout the week, both the Minister and Director participated in one-on-one media interviews with the following outlets: Travel Weekly Magazine, Travel & Leisure Magazine, Bride’s Magazine, Cruise Industry News and Caribbean Life, as well as WNYW-TV (FOX – New York), WSEE-TV (CBS-Miami) and Tempo Networks.  On Wednesday, June 8th, Grenada was the star at the Fourth Annual Caribbean Travel & Cultural Fair at Grand Central Station.  The Fair featured approximately 30 country booths showcasing promotional materials, indigenous products, arts and crafts, food samples and a variety of cultural items and presentations.  Here, Grenada featured the cooking of Chef Yvette Michelle LaCrette, a Grenadian chef living in Brooklyn, New York.  Chef LaCrette distributed samples of Grenadian specialties, throughout the day to hundreds of eager spectators. The Grenada booth also included a display of spices and attendees had the opportunity to see and learn about the many spices that are grown in Grenada.  

On Thursday, June 9th, the Grenada Board of Tourism participated in the Media Marketplace event at the Marriott Marquis from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.  Here, the Director and USA public relations representatives, Allan Fliss and Melissa Lukis, networked with various New York-based travel writers from publications like About.com, Concierge.com, New York Daily News, Bergen Record, Travel Agent, Travel Weekly and Travel & Leisure.   Later that evening the delegation attended the Caribbean diaspora forum entitled, “Re-discovering Home.”

SIR. ROYSTON HOPKIN (CENTER)

On Friday, June 10th, Chef Yvette Michelle LaCrette participated in a cooking demonstration at Bloomingdale’s department store where she prepared curry chicken, callaloo rice and bread pudding for approximately 60 shoppers.  Bloomingdale’s employees commented that it was the best customer turn-out they had seen in a long time and offered Chef LaCrette the opportunity to return for another cooking demonstration in the near future.

The final highlight of the week was the Rhythms of the Caribbean State Ball at the Plaza Hotel, which took place on Friday, June 10th. Sir Royston Hopkin of Spice Island Beach Resort was honored with the Caribbean Lifetime Achievement Award.