Gatwick to Grenada - Twice a Week

British Airways has confirmed their updated service to Grenada which means doubling their flights as of 28 March 2010 to two flights a week.

The carrier currently flies to Grenada twice a week in the busy Winter season but previously reduced that to one flight over the quieter Summer months, this new service gives travelers more options of getting to Grenada to take advantage of lower accommodation costs in the off season.

The increased service will be using Boeing 777s in three classes: World Traveller, World Traveller Plus and Club World. The Winter service will fly from London Gatwick to Grenada via Antigua on Tuesdays and Fridays, the Summer service will operate on Tuesdays and Sundays via Barbados.

British Airways Holidays are offering deals to a hand picked selection of hotels, Calabash is (of course!) among that selection.

Grenada is creating a film commission in hopes of luring movie and television business to the lush, scenic country at the southern tip of the Windward Islands.

Junior Culture Minister Arley Gill says film crews would pump money into the agricultural island’s economy through spending on restaurants, hotels and supplies.

Gill told reporters launching the commission should be an urgent priority, as other regional islands such as Dominica and St. Vincent are pushing for movie-making action.

He told reporters Thursday that “the film industry in the Caribbean is developing rapidly and we don’t want to be left out.”

The new website will enable visitors to book and pay for their entire trip itinerary to Grenada, Carriacou or Petit Martinique, to include flights, accommodation, vehicle hire, restaurants, activities, excursions, events and more. Each GHTA member business and service will have their own dedicated area of the site in which they will be in control of their own content. The website will also contain a vast amount of general tourism information regarding the islands.

GHTA has appointed Centrum New Media of London, England as the project development partner who will also integrate the website into the Travelocity Partner Network to facilitate bookings and payments on tourism services. The website will therefore be exposed to some of the world’s largest travel and leisure networks and is scheduled for launch in the latter part of 2009. In addition Centrum New Media will perform a re-brand project for the GHTA for simultaneous launch with the website.

GHTA Executive Director, Pancy Cross, said; “We at the GHTA are very pleased to announce this project which aims to boost the profile of Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique as a travel destination, make it easy to book a trip to our islands and empower local tourism services in their sales, marketing and representation. We felt that this project was necessary since tourism is of course Grenada’s primary export, and the internet is becoming more and more prevalent in terms of enabling travellers in their plans. Between ourselves, Centrum New Media and Travelocity we have a very well balanced team to deliver this and put Grenada in a stronger position to benefit from the global economic recovery that we are now seeing the first signs of.”

Matt Garbutt of Centrum New Media, said; “We are very pleased to have been awarded the contract to develop this website and very excited to now get down to work on it. We, and the GHTA,  have  spent a great deal of time in planning and investigating options, and believe we have arrived at the best solution to fit both parties. Providing Grenada with a tool with which it can advance its largest export business is something that we relish and is an incredible incentive.”

The New York to Grenada route is pencilled in to start in December 09

Grenada’s minister for tourism, Peter David, has confirmed that negotiations with Delta Airlines are complete and that all being well with paper work a new route between New York and Grenada will open this coming December.

Delta already operate services into Trinidad and other Eastern Caribbean islands and this new service will significantly improve Grenada’s capacity to bring tourism to the island. A radio broadcast with further details is available here.

It is our understanding that the flight will be a weekly service from Sat 12th Dec through April, leaving JFK at 8.30am and arriving in Grenada at 1.30pm. Then re-commencing during July & August.

Peter David said the news was a ‘wonderful development’. We agree.

Other services into Grenada:

• From the UK
  British Airways
  Virgin Atlantic
  Monarch Airlines
• From USA
  American Airlines from New York, Puerto Rico and Miami
  Air Jamaica flies from New York
• From Canada
  American Airlines from Toronto
  Air Canada and Charter flights available during the summer and Christmas seasons
  Skyservice & Zoom from Toronto
• Caribbean
  Liat – Star of the Caribbean and SVG Airlines fly from destinations throughout the Caribbean

I have been appointed as Sales & Marketing Project Manager at The Calabash Hotel and Villas and part of my brief is to assist you with details and information about our lovely property. Obviously it is in our joint interests to increase sales so anything I can do to help you promote Calabash I am keen help. To this end I am in the early stages of planning visiting our UK Tour Operators sometime in September, so I hope to be able to see you at that time. As soon as I have the confirmed dates I will be contact with you.

For lots of information about us I am sure that you are aware of our website www.CalabashHotel.com where you can also jump to our Facebook page, Blog and follow us on Twitter. All good fun so I hope that we can be in contact one way or another.

With warm regards from sunny Grenada,

Adéle Garbutt

Please email adele@calabashhotel.com for more information and to get in touch.

The story of the re-naming of the airport is made more notable in respect of the fact that our current Prime Minister, The Hon Tillman Thomas (whose administration made the change) was imprisoned by Maurice Bishop’s regime for two years during the Grenadian revolution. This symbolic act is being widely received as a positive sign that Grenada is now at peace with its recent history. Read more about the Grenadian Revolution here.

For pictures of the spa please go to the gallery section on our main website.

Bougainvillea at the Spa