By: Rupa Seenaraine
Guyana’s tourism industry has seen its worst year yet, with the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in thousands of persons losing their jobs, and a depletion of billions in revenue for the economy.
However, the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) has several plans in the pipeline to facilitate a rebound in 2021, as businesses start to reopen.
At a press briefing on Thursday, Director of the Authority, Carla James shared that they were able to cross many hurdles throughout this unprecedented year. Negative impacts to the sector would have included a 98% decline in arrivals due to closure of airports, while 4,600 employees were placed on the breadline – an average of 65% of the total tourism sector workforce.
With businesses recording 42% lower revenue between March and September when compared to 2019, the economy saw an overall loss of 38.2 billion from the sector.
In addition, indigenous communities that are linked to sustainable tourism also suffered tremendously. The GTA would have also had its own challenges in conducting inspections and facilitating physical training.
With these setbacks, there were a few notable wins. After the pandemic hit, Deputy Director Kamrul Baksh said they were cognizant of the need to guide stakeholders and operators until some level of normalcy was restored.
This came in the form of a survey to determine the impact, training for tourism operators and the development of a sanitization and hygiene protocol to be implemented in businesses.
It primarily focused on transportation, cleanliness and general operation protocols. Support packages were distributed to indigenous community-based tourism location.
To date, a number of tourism businesses have been granted conditional approval to reopen.
