By Linda Straker Although Hurricane Ivan has damaged 70 percent of Grenada’s hotel rooms and left the tourism product in a terrible condition, the Board of Tourism is continuing to promote the island. Head of Marketing at the Grenada Board of Tourism Ms. Naline Joseph said that a decision was taken to suspend the brand advertising; however, the island will still be promoted. “We are now unable to deliver the promises made in our brand advertising, so in order to keep a present in the tourism market will be promoting the island and looking for the niche markets within,” she said. One of the niche areas that will be getting attention is the dive industry. “At present, we are unable to deliver the land based attractions because of Ivan, however our water attractions are intact, so our focus in the short term is to capture visitors who love diving,” Ms Joseph pointed out. With such an objective the Board had representation and participated in the annual DEMA dive show in Houston on October 28th and the annual Birmingham Dive Show on October 30th and 31st. The Board will also be participating in the annual World Trade Market trade show scheduled to take place in London from next week Monday to Thursday. A delegation led by Minister for Tourism Brenda Hood will be informing the world’s largest tourism show about progress made in Grenada tourism since the passage of Hurricane Ivan. On September 7 Grenada was battered by the first hurricane to fit the island in 49 years. With winds up to 130 miles per hours the development of the island was put in reverse gear. More than 90 percent of all the houses were damage while its tourism and agricultural sectors suffered devastating effects. SOURCE: TRAVELVIDEO.TV