Whale Watching Worldwide

Grenada
Year Number of
whale
watchers
AAGR: Number of
operators
Direct
expenditures
Indirect
Expenditures
Total
Expenditure
1991 None N/A None None None None
1994 None N/A None None None None
1998 1,800 N/A 2 $90,000 $180,000 $270,000
2008 3,390 5.8 1 $203,500 $82,400 $285,900
Capital City: St. George’s
Grenada, is the Windward Isle south of the Grenadines chain in the
eastern Caribbean. It has a well‐developed tourism industry
attracting around 120,000 visitors each year and an increasingly
number of cruise passengers. The waters around Grenada have
small whales and dolphins all year round and humpbacks from
December to March. The humpback season coincides with the high
season for both hotels and cruises making whale watching trips very
popular.
One commercial operator runs boat‐based trips out of St George’s
for four hours to see whales and dolphins off the three islands that comprise the nation of Grenada.
Another boat operator who once ran both fishing and whale watching no longer runs trips. The Kido Project
which also previously included whale watching on a small catamaran, now concentrates on education about
whales with the local communities and does not run trips.
The existing operator has good links with hotels and cruise ships. During high season, trips for the cruises
will go out four or more times a week with over 30 passengers with additional trips for tourists staying on
the island – two on average. Outside of high season there is usually only one trip a week. Indirect
expenditures are low because of the high proportion of cruise ship passengers who have little additional
expenditure on the islands. At present the majority of the whale watchers in Grenada come from cruise
ships (estimated at 85%). This is very different to 1998 when cruise arrivals were not a major source of
customers.
Cruise visits to Grenada have nearly doubled in five years to 292,700, whereas tourist arrivals of 123,770 in
2008 are only about 10% above their 1998 level after an initial strong increase. Half of all visitors come from
two countries ‐ the United States and United Kingdom ‐ with a substantial proportion from other Caribbean
countries. At least one resort advertises whale watching as part of its attractions and their clients can go on
one whale watching trip as part of some of their packages.
Main species: Large cetaceans:
humpback, sperm whale
Small cetaceans:
spinner dolphin, pantropical spotted dolphin,
bottlenose dolphin, Fraser’s dolphin
Tourists:
International 100%
Domestic 0%
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