GRENADA (Commonwealth Union)_The tourist sector will not be a direct priority for Grenada’s government during the next five years, but it should benefit from the administration’s six priority sectors, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said on Monday.
At a town hall meeting, he stated that the focus of his presidency will be on health and wellness, transforming education with a special emphasis on youth and sports, agriculture, food security, and the marine economy, physical and digital infrastructure, culture and the creative economy, energy transition, and the environment.
In response to a question about why tourism was not identified as a priority area, he said: “Tourism was not mentioned because we believe that tourism has been the focal point of Grenada’s development for the last 20 years perhaps, and we believe that the areas we have identified will, in fact, help to strengthen and transform the tourism industry to get to where it needs to get.”
PM Mitchell highlighted that the transformative actions in the six core areas will improve the appeal of Grenada’s tourism product. “That, when we talk about changing our health-care services, we’re talking about changing our tourism, because if I were a wealthy tourist and I heard that the hospital service isn’t so great… I’ll reconsider coming,” he said.
“If I am a returning national and I have to jump on an aircraft to travel back to Canada or New York or Atlanta for a routine medical exam, I will think twice about coming here to Grenada,” the Prime Minister said before revealing that a new hospital will be built on the island, although he did not specify the location or source of finance.
“Tourists are more likely to contemplate cosmetic surgery or a tummy tuck when they travel,” the Grenadian leader continued. “If you really want to promote tourism or health tourism, you kind of need to repair the healthcare and get it to world-class standards, and that is how you promote another component of tourism.”
PM Mitchell believes the island’s beaches and waterfalls are insufficient to propel the industry forward.
“The reality is that if our health-care services are not of the proper standard, our tourism would suffer,” he said. The same may be said for culture, the arts, and the creative economy. People don’t travel for the sake of travelling; they want to learn and experience something new, according to the Prime Minister.
