Grenada’s New Diaspora Loyalty Program Could Be Model for the Caribbean
Photo Credit: Grenada's loyalty program rewards Grenadians abroad for helping drive vacation bookings to the island. Unsplash / Hugh Whyte
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We've long said that the diaspora remains an untapped and lucrative "visiting friends and relatives" market for the Caribbean. Working out the kinks of the program by beefing up the incentives and committing to the effort beyond the recovery phase could pay off long term for Grenada.
Pre-pandemic, tourism made up close to 41 percent of Grenada’s gross domestic product and 42 percent of total employment, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. Two years later, the work to recover all airlift and tourist arrivals in this eastern Caribbean island continues. It’s a challenge that’s led the destination’s tourism board to innovate and launch a loyalty program for its most dedicated consumer segment: the 360,000 Grenadians who live abroad.
Named “473 Connect,” referencing the country’s area code, Grenada Tourism Authority’s rewards program for the diaspora launched in March and is another example of destinations pushing the loyalty frontier to establish a more sustainable tourism future.
“We are a small destination with very limited budgets and coming into the organization and recognizing that we have two people in the US, and we didn't even have anyone in the UK but then we sent someone there, and we have one person
