Annual Economic and Financial Review -December 2018

2018 Annual Economic and Financial Review

GRENADA

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

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

______________________________________________________________________________ 59 Eastern Caribbean Central Bank