Latest update February 10th, 2025 7:48 AM
Guyana’s arrival figures up by 11 percent
– GTA says information sharing is critical to improvement
Visitors’ arrival to Guyana has increased by 11.6 percent. This gives the country the right to boast of being one of the three countries in the entire Caribbean, to record a double digit growth.
Indranauth Haralsingh, Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA), explained that the increase represents visitors from across the Caribbean region, especially from Suriname, Brazil, and Jamaica.
GTA Director, Indranauth Haralsingh
The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) recently reported on Guyana’s Visitor Arrival Summary, stating that tourist arrivals to Guyana has continued to perform reasonably well, with a 7.5 percent increase, in the 2011-2012 period.
Over several months, Guyana has accommodated some 152,000 stay-over visitors. CTO added that all major source markets registered increases, with the South American market growing by a whopping 54.0 percent.
Arrivals from the United States commanded a 54.6 percent share of total tourist arrivals, growing by 7.8 percent. Caribbean countries, the second most important source of tourists to Guyana represents 19.4 percent of the total tourist arrivals. Those visiting Guyana from Canada have increased by 6.6 percent, while those from Europe grew by 1.0 percent, with these markets recording 25.4 thousand and 8.4 thousand tourist visits respectively.
CTO also noted that the majority of the tourists coming to Guyana arrive on aircrafts, and would usually visit during the month of July.
In an interview with this newspaper, Haralsingh said that Guyana continues to be in a strategic location on the World Travel Market. He noted that during an activity held in London earlier this year, Guyana received overwhelming interests, with more persons wanting to showcase destination Guyana.
Haralsingh lamented however, that while Guyana has the potential of becoming a main tourist attraction in the Caribbean; local entities operating within the industry are delaying its potential rapid progress.
He explained that the sad situation remains that local businesses have developed and are continuously practicing a culture of withholding information, which is critical to boosting visitors’ arrival to Guyana.
“Hotels and resorts do not want to tell us where their visitors are coming from, how many tourists are staying with them, what are the activities that they are interested in, what mode of transportation they use, how much they are comfortable spending and so on. These are things that we need to know, but these businesses do not want to tell us,” Haralsingh explained.
He added that with the desired information, the Ministry of Tourism will be better able to organize familiarization trips, create travel packages, and most importantly, know what areas of the tourism product needs to be developed.
Haralsingh said that as Tourism Awareness Month is coming to an end, the Ministry has been conducting a number of activities which has been receiving the desired response thus far.
He pointed out particularly the Bartender’s Cocktail Competition, noting that this was hosted with the aim of boosting the nightlife here.
“Tourists are very much involved in the nightlife, and world-class cocktails are a must, so we have invested in this. The competition was also very much supported.”
In addition to the drinks, Haralsingh noted that the quality of food served locally is also essential to ensuring that tourists return to Guyana.
“That is why we have implemented the restaurant rating system,” the GTA head pointed out. He explained that this system would allow members of the public to vote for and rate the restaurants of their choice online, and also providing reasons for their pick.
Haralsingh also reiterated the need to keep the city clean, noting that the first impression is always the lasting impression.
“That is why we conducted the enhancement project where we gathered some persons, including students of Presidents College, and undertook a cleanup exercise in sections of Georgetown.”
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