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2018 Annual Economic and Financial Review
GRENADA
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Eastern Caribbean Central Bank
reversing the contraction of 4.9 per cent
recorded in 2017.
This outturn was on account of cruise ship
calls by seven new cruise lines due to
adjustments to their itineraries in the aftermath
of the 2017 hurricanes and in general larger
capacity ships, despite a fall in calls by 45 to
246. Stay-over visitors also grew at a solid
rate of 10.0 per cent to 160,975, accelerating
from the 8.2 per cent rate of growth registered
in the previous year. There were positive
outcomes from all the major stay-over source
markets. Canadian arrivals grew by
21.1 per cent, due to strong marketing efforts
and direct airlift all year round. Stay-over
arrivals from the USA market grew by
12.1 per cent, much lower than the rate of
growth of 20.9 per cent experienced in the
previous year. Arrivals from the Caribbean
were also strong, increasing by 6.9 per cent as
the country hosted a number of regional events
including the Grenada Invitational Athletics
Meet, Dive Fest, Pure Grenada Music
Festival, Spice Mas, as well as several
regional meetings and conferences. Stay-over
arrivals from the European market rebounded
in 2018, increasing by 2.5 per cent following
a decrease of 2.6 per cent in 2017. This was
primarily led by improved performance of the
UK market, which saw an increase of
1.1 per cent, after declining by 6.7 per cent in
2017, amid BREXIT uncertainties. Regarding
the other segment of visitors, the yachting sub-
sector registered an increase of 10.4 per cent
to 24,281 after growing by 8.1 per cent in the
previous year. Meanwhile, the number of
excursionists declined by 47.7 per cent to 555,
a lower contraction from the 70.2 per cent
recorded in 2017.
The education sector, which contributed the
largest to GDP at 18.3 per cent, grew at an
estimated rate 3.6 per cent in 2018, down
from the rate of 4.6 per cent in 2017. This
slowdown in the pace of growth was
influenced by a lower enrollment rate at St
George’s University. Total enrolment
increased by an estimated 1.6 per cent to
7,846 in the 2018 academic year, down from