GRENADA’S YACHTING SECTOR RECEIVES MARKETING GRANT

St. George’s, January 31, 2011 - The Marine and Yachting Association of Grenada, also known as MAYAG, has received grant funds valued at approximately $70,000 Eastern Caribbean Dollars from the Centre for the Development of Enterprise (also known as the ‘CDE’) to support a marketing project aimed at promoting the growth of the sector. The funds will provide an opportunity for the Grenada’s yachting sector to identify new markets, develop a marketing plan to reach those markets as well as creating marketing materials and publishing the next edition of Grenada’s Marine Guide.

The marketing project will focus on branding Grenada globally as the ultimate yachting destination. “This grant provides an opportunity for Grenada’s yachting sector to increase its presence in the global marketplace” said MAYAG President, Anita Sutton. “Most of MAYAG’s Members are small and medium size enterprises, and the costs of advertising in the global marketing place are very high. By pooling our resources and effectively promoting Grenada as the ultimate yachting destination we will stretch our advertising dollars much further”. This project is very important for Grenada, as MAYAG estimates that the sector already contributes approximately $70 million XCD to Grenada’s economy per year, providing over 400 direct jobs and supporting at least 300 more jobs in the service industry and restaurants that make money from yachting visitors.

Consultants working on the project include the lead marketing expert Russell Jarman Price who resides in St. Patrick’s Grenada. While living in the UK, Mr. Jarman Price co-founded ‘Still Price Court’, one of the fastest growing advertising agencies ever with clients such as Coca-Cola and Virgin Atlantic. Three Grenadians will also make up the project team: Tony McQuilkin, a publisher and photojournalist, and Rosetta Weston, a business process re-engineering consultant and Jennifer Ellard-Alexis, a sustainable development specialist who is MAYAG’s proposal writer & project coordinator. For more information, email mayag@spiceisle.com or visit www.cde.int or www.mayag.net