By Tracey Khan – Drakes
[www.inewsguyana.com] – Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) Indranauth Haralsingh has expressed optimism that the Tourism sector will now be in the hands of an experienced professional with expertise in the field.
He was referring to Cathy Hughes, who was sworn as Minister of Tourism on Wednesday, May 20 by President David Granger at the Ministry of Presidency.
Responding to questions about the Minister’s appointment, Haralsingh praised Hughes, pointing out her many years of experience in various areas of the sector, which he believes will serve the Ministry well.
“She has been one of the persons who has been very critical in lobbying for the establishment of the GTA…and we’re looking forward to working with her…we’re very optimistic that we can see dramatic transformation in tourism because she is coming with a lot of experience, she is coming with a solid partnership and private sector experience because she has been a tourism operator herself.”
Additionally, he noted that a number of initiatives that were started by the previous Minister will continue in their efforts to market destination Guyana.
“They will be looking at increasing airlift…improving connectivity, improving our marketing that has been a sore issue for years so that we can eventually improve and increase arrival, increase length of stay, increase visitor expenditure in Guyana…heritage attraction, capacity building and training, the hospitality institute.”
Haralsingh boasted of the potential the tourism sector has, but noted it has to be harnessed well.
“Tourism has the greatest potential to transform Guyana…it is an export industry and it has the best possibility and it has the best of diversifying Guyana’s economy and of bringing benefits all across the country…it creates a lot of employment, generates a lot of revenue and it brings a lot of foreign currency to Guyana.”
Meanwhile, the sector had seen a decrease of 4.6% in tourists’ arrival for the month of April which was the period leading up to Guyana’s recently concluded 2015.
The country however recorded a 13.9% increase in arrivals for the first quarter of this year.
Haralsingh shared these figures with media as he responded to criticisms that have been leveled against the organization he heads, claiming that recent statistics provided in relation to visitor arrivals were false.
He has since dispelled this story to be untrue and walked the media through the process to clarify how the information is captured and analyzed.
What does air conditioners have to do with thegovt- buy ur own? REALLY? how do u know i dont have my own? The point i was making about A/C is govt wants PPL TO LENGTHEN STAY RGT? There4 its simple,ppl frm around the world R NOT USED TO THE HUMIDITY N HEAT GUYANA FACE in public places,houses PRESENTLY,SO TOURISTS BESIDES U HAVING RACIAL PROBLEMS DO NOT WANT TO GO N.VISIT.Guyana needs that extra VENUES TO BUILD ITS ECONOMY n the visitors can at least be comfy to stay long!!
I agree with the 1st comment regarding our own air carrier it’s a shame we don’t have not even one of our own. It is quite difficult for some people to visit because of the air fear and when people do find the money to pay how much of it is going back into Guyana’s economy.
We have our beautiful kiture falls and there’s not even a decent air craft to take you there and after such discomfort with the flight the refreshment that’s served make Guyana’s cooking and baking look like rubbish.
We need to make tourist site safer and more attractive so people will not only make a one off visit but somewhere people will always want to visit.
We have beautiful resources so we need to advertise them and let the world know about Guyana. I hope this government will put Guyana on the map and put it for all the right reasons bucause a lot of people don’t even know about our beautiful country.
ANOTHER IMPORTANT FEATURE IS OUR TELEPHONE AND INTERNET SYSTEM IS CRAP AND THAT IS ONE VERY IMPORTANT FEATURE WITHIN OUR WORLD TODAY SO PLEASE WHEN WE ARE TALKING ABOUT IMPROVING TOURISM THESE ARE JUST A FEW IMPORTANT FEATURES WE ARE DIERING IN NEED OF.
what does air conditioners have to do with the Goverment buy your own
guyana must have its very own national air carrier
Since Guyana wants visitors to LENGTHEN THEIR STAYS,GUYANA needs to have a program to help it’s people tp havd AIR CONDITIONER IN MOST HOMES N PUBLIC PLACES!…..BE BLESSED!