Latest update September 24th, 2026 10:31 AM
I am never going on any other tours in Guyana for the foreseeable future
Dear Editor,
In the Kaieteur News of 27th August 2025, 4 days before election I saw a story captioned “Sod turned for new $7B arrival terminal at CJIA” the story informed us that the current ruling Poor Performing Party is expanding the Cheddi Jagan International Airport!
If I live to be 100 years old, I would still not be able to understand how such people can expect to run a government in a complicated country like Guyana.
First of all, I hold the view that the current facilities at Timehri are more than enough to accommodate the meagre tourist industry of Guyana. Especially in view of my recent experience with one of the local G$22,000 tours to the Essequibo.
Personally, as a Guyanese I have to say that I was totally ashamed after accompanying a few friends of mine from Trinidad, England and the US on a tour of the Essequibo on Sunday 24th August 2025.
We had a very uncomfortable ride in the bus from Georgetown, and the Bartica type river boat they retained for the ride to the resort with stops at Bartica and Fort Island was super uncomfortable for me, and most of my party of foreigners. The boat was the type which you have to climb over the seats to get to the back, and is certainly no credit to any country which has tourism ambitions, If Mr. Rubio thinks that the Heroes highway is a breakneck experience, I’m glad they did not take him for a ride in that boat to Bartica.
But unfortunately, the worst was yet to come, after Fort Island we then went to Bartica, not the place where I used to dock my boat, where there is an actual dock with a bar and a mall next door and stores right there within eyesight, they dropped us off at a spot near to the police station, where there was nothing except a gazebo. Then, they took us for a short boat ride to what is purported to be one of the best resort installations close to Bartica.
Editor I was amazed at the poor quality of the place, the pool was clearly not serviced for some time and was green not blue, the toilets were in a completely unacceptable condition and very smelly, but these folks are charging G$2500 for a shot of tequila. So, I had to enjoy these extremely poor facilities completely sober.
Editor a bottle of that kind of tequila is around G$6600 anywhere even here at Diamond where I now live and it contains 26 ounces, so its roughly G$253 per shot. They are charging 10 times more for a shot in that smelly resort. Editor they are making G$65,000 for liquor they are paying G$6600 for. The lunch they gave us was equally poor, no reasonable cook shop in Guyana would offer you that poorly seasoned chicken they gave us. Most of my companions could not eat it. The meal we paid G$22,000 for with the rough trip in the speed boat, was a total rip off, and it showed me clearly, there cannot be a viable tourism industry in this country, if this particular resort is a representative of what one can expect in Guyana. The very poor quality of the service, the shabby nature of the food, the extremely high cost of the entire thing would certainly turn off any international traveler accustomed to better.
A government and a tourism authority which clearly do not have qualified people regulating these resorts better, have no right to be giving the public fictitious figures about how well our tourist industry is doing. And so, I must repudiate their numbers. Guyanese returning home to see their family here during the summer holidays cannot possibly be used as de facto tourists. Actually, one of the members of our party, told me that to travel to Lethem by plane 262 miles was nearly 40% more expensive than what she paid to come from New York to Guyana a trip of 2629 miles according to Professor Google. I certainly am never going on any other tours in Guyana for the foreseeable future.
Sincerely,
Tony Vieira
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