'SIMPLE STAYS GRENADA' launch by the Ministry of Tourism and Grenada Tourism Authority

foreign morning everybody minister of tourism civil aviation climate resilience and the environment honorable doctor clarice modus cohen permanent secretary in the ministry of tourism miss desiree stevens gta directors ceo of the gta miss petra roach manager nautical development and marketing sales manager ms nakoyan roberts managers and staff of the gta specially invited guests members of the media it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the exciting launch on the simple stay program grenada's accommodation portfolio is very diverse and well celebrated in this industry however today we highlight the smaller jewels in the crown with the launch of this program today we will share with you the ministry of tourism and the grenada tourism's authority's plan to put the spotlight on our smaller properties and now we'd like to invite our first speaker miss delicia de coto of the ministry of tourism thank you madame moderator good morning everyone it is my pleasure to share with you today an overview on the background of the simple stays grenada program during my presentation i will take this opportunity i will take you through some of the key activities that led us to where we are today in 2018 the government of grenada through the den ministry of tourism and civil aviation introduced the small hotels program with the aim of enhancing the visibility and viability of the smaller properties in grenada karaku and pt martinique and in turn the accommodation and tourism sector in since its inception the program has been a collaborative effort between the ministry and the grenada tourism authority the program in its current state consists of the following three main components a needs assessment funding support through the establishment of the small hoteliers loan facility and branding marketing and proposed promotional support needs assessment following the launch of the program in 2018 a needs assessment exercise was conducted and this was done to determine any possible gaps that may exist and to get a better understanding of the needs of the small accommodations on ireland this was critical to chart the way forward in addition a series of developmental and skills training in supervisory management and customer services customer service was conducted in 2018 and continued into 2019 this was also necessary to support and meet the developmental needs of the accommodation providers funding support the small hoteliers loan facility which was established by the government of grenada and facilitated by the grenada development bank targeted small indigenous boutique hotels with 50 rooms or less as part of the program eligible properties were given the opportunity to obtain soft loans at a very favorable interest rate to be used for the upgrading of their physical property we are happy to note that the loan facility is still available for all for any of the small hoteliers who may meet the criteria and are still interested branding marketing and promotional support in 2019 we commenced the marketing and promotional support with the development of an umbrella brand for the small hotels program the brand was designed and developed by mr andre williams of marvel creative agency it is important to note here that the brand simple stays grenada is linked to the pure grenada brand in terms of design as such as such in order to maintain uniformity across the two brands simple stage grenada and pure grenada the simple state logo incorporated the same line and logo style of the pure grenada logo the brand logo if you look at the brand logo closely you will notice that the s's and the swirls you'll notice the esses and the swirls the swirls and the s's reflect the elements that went into creating and developing the logo these included a school of fish which represents the coming together of the properties under a unique brand the shell and the ocean which represents the strength and power gain from the brand from the properties uniting and the butterfly which represents rebirth transformation creativity endless potential and change these elements fully represent the overall goal of this program the simplest days grenada brand seeks to encourage visitors to immerse themselves in the experience of our beautiful destination simple does not by any mean anyway mean that the properties and the experiences are simple we define the simple stage experience as smaller properties in a serene environment with an intimate feel that provides memorable personalized and laid back relaxing experiences that are economical simple stays grenada embodies the nature and feel of the small hotels in grenada caricu and pt martinique the next phase of the brandon exercise involved obtaining feedback and buying from our hotel partners on the proposed umbrella brand through consultations we are happy to note that today 15 properties which includes nine in grenada five in caraca and one in pt martinique are part of the first phase of the program our efforts to obtain buy-in and to provide support to the program will continue in 2022 through further engagement of the small hotel sector the branding at exercise did not stop at the logo design it included the design and development of a microsite a brochure and a photo and video campaign the microsite displays all 15 properties along with several experiences and services on islands on island that would offer direct discount to guests staying at a simple state accommodation currently we have 16 stakeholders offering experiences across three main categories tour operators water sports and attractions before i close i just want to note that the brand assets and the hard work of the entire team including our stakeholders who have continued to support the process during the development phase has allowed us to be in the position we are we are today to officially launch the umbrella brand of the small hotels program simple stays grenada thank you [Applause] thank you miss dakota and now a word from some of our participating stakeholders for us simple stay is customer services we have a lot of repetitive guests from prior years and that's what we like to see we have a very good establish a good relationship with our guests and they have also established a good relationship with our staff because the smaller sometimes the small hotels can offer that they have that advantage we have a fairly small hotel and we have established a very friendly sometimes a kind like family relationship with our guests i'm excited for this program because it highlights the smaller hotels and currently i'm working at one of the smaller hotels which is seabreeze hotel and it would bring business to our establishment i believe that grenada is is luxury you know even if you were to stay in a hut under coconut tree in the country it's pure luxury and i think that simple space could really find that and help small properties to to market themselves and to find their niche the amazing thing about the small hotels and the small properties is that when you come here as a tourist you get to know the people that works in the hotel you become friends and family and you leave here you know not only experience grenade and all that it has but also the the loving people and the genuine friendly customer service that we do and it feels like a home away from home you know i think that part is the heart and the solar grenada that small properties brings to the table it's really nice to see a spotlight on the smaller businesses you're starting to see a trend of international visitors looking for those unique experiences in smaller facilities but very often it's hard to find them how do they know where they are and i think from that point of view this new initiative is a great way of signposting where they are on grenada and i think that will also add value to the tourist board and the offer because we've seen very often visitors whether from the us from canada or the uk will often stay in different parts of the island and if they can find those places much easier then they will explore more and we'll see more of the island like something we needed a really long time really long we needed something like that because we we're always just picking up the scrums off of the baby the bigger one sometimes and they have instances where they go to the big hotels and they don't even know well character for example they don't even know how to exist they're just staying good and that's it because there you know all these things down there now the simple state's gonna market us not just the business in caracas but the character on a whole make that make the so it means a lot to us i see it as a marketing and promotion tool for us where we cannot get the monies to do and go as far i think tourism what they're doing now is going to help us really really well it's going to help us with having that website um right now i do not have a website um we had a problem so with them doing it that is additional for us and if they can do a booking engine as well that'll be so good attached so people can book as well that would be even better for us for us i want to see two operators and travel agents coming to our small properties to see exactly what we are offering for years past you find that the bigger properties they are the one that benefit from that so i would love to see now that we have that special program for us simple stay for us bring the two operators bring the travel agents let them come and see what we are offering have trade shows for us [Applause] as a marketing executive at the gta one of our most frequently asked questions is regarding more information about our accommodation offerings we are always happy to share our diverse portfolio with travel agents media and visitors alike and we always say grenada has something for every pocket which is why i am so excited today to speak about the marketing aspect of the simple stay program which will allow us to showcase our smaller unique and welcoming properties to the world the following are core strategies to highlight our smaller properties we have developed a website which groups and highlights our smaller properties under the brand simple stay with updated information and photography of the properties we have also paired with the accommodation offerings discounted rates on various experiences available exclusively to our simplest guests thus encouraging visitors at these properties to go out and explore our island the website will be heavily marketed to bring businesses to the smaller properties in these difficult times in addition to this website a brochure has also been developed to distribute throughout our source market and during our trade shows we will also host a series of virtual travel agents events specifically focusing on getting the agents familiar with the smaller properties and the amenities as well as a special familiarization trip centered around a simple stay program bringing the agents directly to the properties to experience them firsthand social media social media of course remains an ever useful tool in marketing our destination we will also use social media to market the simple stay using ads to target our top markets with direct airlift such as new york miami charlotte in the usa canada and the united kingdom our marketing will also target our beloved diaspora with us which is a significant market looking for affordable getaways and a nice home away from home with these marketing strategies we aim to transform the image of our smaller properties placing them on the world stage the video assets created for this program speaks to each of our travelers from the now popular solo traveler to the couple looking for a quick getaway and even the family looking for looking to spend more time with each other simple stay is made perfectly with them in mind now without further ado i would like to present to you the video assets for this program [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] at the gta we see simple stay as an ongoing project and we do anticipate more hotels to be added and benefited accordingly as well as new experiences curated especially for the guests to the owners of the smaller properties we thank you for all that you have done in the tourism industry in grenada i would now like to invite mrs nikoyan roberts manager of nautical development and marketing and sales of the gta let's give a few words thank you chennai good morning everyone and welcome to the long awaited launch of the simple stays grenada small boutique properties digital marketing program we are honored to have with us here today in this hybrid mix of both physical and virtual participation our honorable minister for tourism civil aviation climate change and the environment dr clarice modes cohen permanent secretary ms desiree stephen in the ministry of tourism civil aviation climate resilience and the environment we have our chairmen our board directors other esteemed directors here with us today mrs brenda hood director lawton hagen and our marketing and sales teams and quality assurance teams from the gta and the ministry's senior technical officer mr alicia dicotto our ceo petra roach is also online and all of you wonderful media representatives welcome this is a great day today we are very happy to be here to launch this significant program the grenada small boutique properties digital marketing program simple stays this program takes all of the boxes for business development for grenada's very special and unique smaller properties they're small they're special they're boutique they're affordable and they give a very interesting element to what we provide in our communities here with activities in grenada as you have learned today we've had several discussions with the public and private sector with the program participants with the grenada development bank the ministry and the ghda on what was missing to grow these small special businesses in our community and our needs assessment in 2018 highlighted that concessionary soft loans to give the added boost of capital investment would be critical to the development of these properties how they are marketed and how to stimulate additional revenue streams the grenada development bank stepped forward and helped us to work on the finance and programs and the information was shared with all of the properties including the 15 that have now registered so that they could take advantage of doing property enhancements and quite a few of them as you learned today 15 in our trial and state have done so the properties are small they're unique and they're made even more special because of their location in our communities that allow for a greater connection with the most special part of grenada karioku and petey martinique which is you and me our people they connect us with health and wellness experiences and all of those special cultural activities that are found off the beaten track and a bit set back from the traditional hotel belt the program is differentiated in that while our visitors can still enjoy sun sea and sand experiences they are also able now to connect more comfortably with sustainable conservation programs like volunteering with scientists community ngos and locals to go visit and see the critically endangered leatherback turtles nesting and their hatchlings up in leverage while in these simple state accommodation the visitors are also able to connect with locals who take them to replant mangroves show them how to harvest cmos establishing artificial reefs and restoring depleted coral strands in grenada and carriacou visitors therefore who stay at our simplest days properties are able to connect much more easier with these exciting environmental activities and the legacy cultural festivals deeply rooted in these communities today finally i wish to applaud the courageous the persevering the owners managers and support staff of the 15 properties who have done all of the registration necessary to be marketed to a global audience on our website and social media platforms they have fought to upgrade themselves with many physical changes property upgrades they have planted more beautiful trees fruit trees and vegetable gardens and build out our garden to table sustainable experiences they have provided through this marketing program more value added amenities like the quality cultural activities that engage visitors in learning how to produce and prepare beautiful grenadian dishes they experience our culture as families as couples as solo travelers with their children and also at some of these intimate properties the couples are able to find support to engage their children in activities like learning how to make kites etc while the mother and father can enjoy a little bit of quality time together the difference the additional difference that simple stays brings is that the grenada tourism authority and the ministry of tourism can now give this much needed research-focused marketing support with digital connections on platforms as one of our properties said earlier they do not have the huge market in budgets that would allow them to promote themselves increase their quality visitorship and provide much needed revenue they can now sell themselves better to the global traveler the evidence is here we have developed the website an additional marketing information we have our video assets we have brochures printed brochures that provide the information and the data that will drive visitors to the simple stage properties where we add value for our guests and marry the accommodation transportation and activities through quality experiences that are experiential personal and bespoke unlike other places grenada has an amazing unique and diverse range of accommodation properties and we can truly boast yes chennai that we have something for everyone we look forward to welcoming you soon for an incredible and memorable vacation at one of our special simple stays properties here in grenada carioca and pity martinique and we don't rest on our laurels our teams will continue to call you and you are invited to call us as we speak with the additional properties and work with them to get more of you registered transportation experiences so that you can be able to showcase and provide additional value to all of the visitors to our beautiful country we look forward to speaking with you thank you for being here today at this launch thank you mrs roberts i would now like to invite the minister of tourism civil aviation climate resilience and the environment dr clarice modes cohen thank you very much adam asked of ceremonies and a pleasant good day it's still morning to everyone here we have a nice cross-sectional mix of persons from different backgrounds and i understand too that we some persons are joining futurely um so that is one of the benefits of kovid we all always think of the negatives but at least this is one of the positives that comes to mind i want to recognize our woman and secretary ms desiree stevens former secretary in the ministry of tourism civil aviation and the environment i noticed one our ceo i'm told is joining us virtually and perhaps chairman of the board of gta maybe somewhere listening as well and other members of the board i want to recognize one of the board members right here and of course advisor to the minister and former minister of tourism miss brenda wood and our manager of nautical development marketing and sales acting acting marketing and sales manager this is nicole roberts and my two friends at both ends of the table our emcee and i'm not sure what is the role you play in this but i know you're a senior officer in the ministry of tourism miss delicia dicotto and i know he would have played a significant role in this with your multifaceted talent other specially invited guests that i may not know um your background who you represent and of course as pope john paul once said if it doesn't if it's not in the media it doesn't it hasn't happened and therefore i want to greet the members of the media here today this is a long-awaited project for the small hotels but you know sometimes i believe that god has a way of timing things when it might be most needed most strategic most impactful and while i have had my moments of anxiety feeling that i could not justify to my my cabinet the investment that they had put down um and and we weren't seeing the results but you know it's only now that i realized so much work has gone behind the scenes and and not just work but high tech high quality work that i will be proud to display anywhere when we travel um outside of of this country it gives us one more tool to market our country um in various aspects um having traveled to several of the trade stores and sister nikoian has always has often been with us you know we some of the larger hotels they market themselves they travel as well and they have their own stands their own stall some of them team up with us but lamentably the smaller hotels are not able to do so and many of them sort of get left behind or fall through the crack but that doesn't mean that persons who travel are only looking for larger hotels or you know the fancy top-end high-end amenities and facilities that these offer many persons just want to experience the destination the country they want to go to a food fest they want to go to a fish friday which we longing to have they want to go to um you know or on the water sculpture and and just go to places and have fun so when we hear about simple stays it is not that this is simple by any means um it is simple in the way it's executed and it's offered so there's not a lot of hassle and fuss and frills but that it is pure friendship pure natural grenada pure beauty um purity for our people and sister nikoi and mention a number of the of the attractions that we can expose our visitors to that would make a huge difference to them um you know in a package called simple stays so it is it surely does not mean that it is of no consequence but it's the the way it is put so that you're at home and and you don't feel too flustered or fretted in any kind of way now that the others do but um you know the simplicity of it is what is the beauty of it um so i am really pleased that this is happening today um we often hear a lot about the larger hotels the high end the five star the six star whatever star and um and sometimes we do not hear about the smaller ones but i can tell you i know some small hotels that they pack a good bunch in terms of the industry um they always have a high level of occupancy rate sometimes they're overbooked and they get repeat visitors because of the quality so let us not be confused by simple to think that it is not important that it is not top class it is high-end in its own way even though the structure in the facility may not have the number of rooms and as i said before some of the amenities and i really want to complement all of those persons who were involved in bringing this activity to fruition first of all as we always say we thank god for the opportunity that we've we've gotten those for and um i am pleased to be a part of a government that looks out for the big but also looks out for the small and who listens because um we in tourism in the ministry we we cannot we do not have we cannot claim the fame of being the ones who instigated that and who agitated for it this the hotel the ghta they agitated for that even those of the bigger hotels and the the you know and the bigger brands they came out in defense of the smaller hotels and and sought to [Music] i don't know if you can say levelly playing field is it's kind of difficult to level it but um to bring more equity into the industry and to bring the smaller hotels to the fore as they they very much deserve based on their performance how they have done and based also on need so they the program had three main components one was a needs assessment and based on that needs assessment certain training programs were designed to fill the gaps to bridge the gap where these where there were some shortcomings and i i you know i know a number participated and those who have not i'm sure they're waiting in the wings to um to avail themselves of the opportunity that they may have lost of course the funding support and that is where government came in they started with 2 million and the uptick was not as good as we would have liked to see and instead of taking back the money which some businesses would have done i give you money you know you didn't use it well i take it back this government gave five more million and increased it to seven million um to incentivize um the stakeholders in this simple states endeavor and the another incentive was the interest which went from initially um starting for two percent and after a period it went up to three after the first year but now it's one percent it's almost like i'm lending your money miss stevens hold that money do a little business and as you make you give me back and they still give a moratorium i think one whole year when you don't have to pay interest and principal how simple how simple can simple stays be how simpler can it be so um you know i i want to encourage those who have taken it up i understand that there's more interest now and and and also encourage those who have not taken it off us yet to take up that offer it doesn't get any better um so that funding is is administered to the grenada development bank and it's still available and of course some of the things that you had the benefits of seeing i got some glimpses but you know that's one of the disadvantages of being up one day up at the head table some things you don't get to see so i hope later on but i i did have a look at um at yes at the brochure quite fancy and i hope all of you will get an opportunity to see it this is something we would be proud to display on our on our tables when we travel the quality and and the content of of the brochures that puts the would-be traveler in direct contact with the hotelier or the administrations of the small hotels and of course you have videos you have microsite which is attached to the the website of gta and so on and so on and so on so i think it is a great opportunity perhaps there is more that could be done there is always more to be done but i think it is a great hand up um in discovery times when mars are a little bit low when spirits are a little bit winning and we're wondering when would this all end and give us a break but you know what with with the lockdowns and they stay at homes and and mass 24 hours a day the the the experts in the industry are finding that more people want to travel so there's a plus in all of this there's a hunger an unprecedented hunger for travel so people will travel and all we have to do is market ourselves and when the visitors come market some more by the way we we [Music] entertain them by the way we provide our quality of service and certainly they will spread the word about grenada karakoa and pt martinique and how you can get a wide range of accommodation from the very large high end to the very small simple that gives you a very impactful experience with mother nature in our country and that is so very profoundly enjoyable so i i i think this occasion speaks for itself and there's not a whole lot that i can say that the the authors of this simple stage program would not say on the website on a micro site and so on so i urge all of us to get informed as to what we have in small hotels let us not forget we always encourage how you how do you say it staycation stay at home and have a vacation so there's no reason and there is a list of all the participants starts in a from alemanda all the way down all these 15 and the good thing about this is caroku gets this fresh npt mark negate so it's not just mainland it's not just south you have hotels in other parts of of the country and i think that is one of one of the the laudable points of this program that it addresses small hotels in a very holistic way i look forward to see that list extending but um charity begins at home as they say so get get to enjoy those small simple stays hotels yourself and then you can tell your relatives when they come back that they can come and enjoy it as well and bring their friends into those hotels because grenada really and truly we have created our own niche and we continue to work that niche to the benefit of our people and i'm happy today that if the smaller hotels had any doubts that um our ministry of tourism care about them and that we are we are cognizant of the contribution that you make to the economy by the jobs you create by the taxes that you pay etc etc etc i i hope that this demonstrates this event here and the work that has gone into simple states will demonstrate to the country that we do care and we are aware of what you do in the industry continue to do it and let us market our pure grenada to the best but the best marketing that you can do is to give your visitor the experience of their life so that they want to come back and they want to encourage others too so may god bless us in this endeavor commendations and congratulations to everyone who has participated and i look forward to another phase and another phase so those who are in this phase that you keep stepping up the game and those who are not yet into it then come and play the game let us give kovidaron for his money and let us make tourism meaningful covered or no covered tourism will grow and grenada will give our visitors the experiences of their lives i thank you [Applause] thank you minister dr modest cohen for your kind words i now invite miss de cotto for some closing remarks thank you again madame moderator okay dr clarus modest cohen minister for tourism civil aviation climate resilience and the environment ms desiree stevens permanent secretary ms petra roach ceo grenada tourism authority attendant virtually miss brenda hood advisor to the minister mrs nikoyan roberts manager nautical development and marketing sales gta directors managers and staff of the ministry and the gta small hoteliers specially invited guests ladies and gentlemen on a virtual platform i have the great pleasure to develop to deliver the vote of thanks on this occasion i wish to extend a hearty thanks to minister modest cohen for your remarks and emphasizing the importance of our smaller hotels and the role of the ghta and the government in this initiative to mrs nikoyan roberts for highlighting the importance of this program to grenada's market and efforts and highlighting the linkages to ms chennai cine bernard for your clear overview on the marketing activities and the programs that the gta would implement during the year to support our stakeholders special thanks are extended to all 15 small hoteliers for placing your trust in the ministry and the gta team for assisting to meet for assistance to meet some of your marketing technical and capacity building needs and for being ever so responsive whenever we called you during the building out of this program note as many of us had said earlier today that the program doesn't end at this launch but in fact we are just getting started and you can expect to hear more from us and it's more from the team as we continue to roll out this important initiative thank you to our 16 stakeholders offering experiences directly to the simplest day's guests we are extremely grateful for your participation and for coming coming on board to enhance the program we would also like to express our gratitude to the creative team marble creative agency who is who who are here today with us and radius technology group for your for their cooperation and dedication towards getting the simple states grenada program launch just to highlight that the brochure that we have here includes a qr code for all of the properties that takes you directly to the property page on the website ladies and gentlemen a program of this nature cannot happen overnight the wheel started four years ago it required planning and understanding of our stakeholder needs buying and most importantly collaboration we have been fortunate enough to have a team of very motivated and dedicated colleagues who know their jobs and are result oriented special thanks to ps bhak maya utram who was the lead from the inception of this program your leadership and insight drew in your time has gotten us to where we are today finally i would like to thank i'd like to take this opportunity to place on record my hearty thanks to the gta team their role contribution and partnership towards the execution of this activity is invaluable thank you to the media for being here today to cover this important initiative and to tnr communications for providing live streaming support i cannot thank everyone enough for this involved for their involvement and their willingness to take on this important initiative we are all most graceful great grateful and we thank you for being with us this morning it's been a great pleasure thank you [Applause] all right thank you guys again for joining us and be sure to grab a brochure on your way out thank you you

2022-02-18 01:31

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