Spice mas growing

Grenada’s Minister of Culture and Cooperatives, Brenda Hood told Newsday that Spice Mas has seen a yearly increase of visitors to the annual festival by 30 to 25 percent.

The delegation was composed of Hood and the Grenada Tourism Authority’s (GTA), marketing manager, Francine Stewart, Delran Andrews, Marketing Executive for the Caribbean and Roger Augustine, Destination Experience Officer, Spice mas Corporation’s CEO Kirk Seetahal, chairman Jocelyn Sylvester Gairy and board member Cedric Mitchell.

During the three day visit, which ends today, a release said, “(the delegation) engaged travel agents, media and travellers about exciting developments in Pure Grenada, the Spice of the Caribbean. Trinidad is Pure Grenada’s largest source market in the Caribbean, therefore, the GTA is making a significant investment to promote the destination there.” The delegation also hosted two travel agent expos, one held yesterday and the other to be held today at Cara Suites Hotel and Conference Centre, Claxton Bay, to, “provide an opportunity for travel agents in the area to engage with the GTA and learn more about what the Spice Island of the Caribbean has to offer visitors from the twin-island nation.” Hood, in speaking with Newsday, said the, “We launched our Spice Mas in Grenada two weeks ago. Once you launch everything just goes on, week after week.” She added that events leading up to August 15 start as early as July 26.

Spice Mas was launched in TT on Monday at the Raddisson Hotel, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain.

Hood said the Grenadian Government and its tourist board wanted to invite people from TT to visit its Carnival which she described as being very unique. “I know over the years we have had large numbers of Trinidadians and people from Tobago coming to the destination. Spice Mas is very unique. We have the traditional mas, the Shortknee, Wild Indian...

sometimes we bring in the traditional mas from Carriacou and it is called the Shakespeare Mas...” She said the Government’s overall vision for the festival was for it to be unique. “The vision is that we don’t want it to be the same like that that which goes on on the other islands.”