– Tourism DG says task force in place to attract more cruise ships, tourists

SOME 77 tourists, from Europe and the USA, alongside a crew of about 55 persons, have stopped in Guyana for three days to enjoy the hospitality and ecotourism the country has to offer.

At about 07:00 hours, on Friday, the MS Serenissima docked in Georgetown, at the Guyana National Shipping Corporation’s (GNSC) port in La Penitence. Soon enough, the tourists were greeted with the sounds of local music being played on Ras Camo’s steel pans and an array of local craft and cuisine- set up right on the wharf.

The tourists travelled to Antigua, Guadeloupe, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago, before arriving in Guyana, their penultimate stop. It is worthy to note that Guyana is the only country, so far, where the tourists have spent more than one day.

One tourist, Stephen Lockwood, who hailed from the United Kingdom (UK), indicated that Guyana was not usually a destination for cruise ships and coming to Guyana was part of the appeal for him.

The warm welcome the group received on Friday morning, coupled with the sunny weather gracing the morning, perhaps, gave the man an indication of what his trip in the Land of Many Waters would be like. And with this being his first trip to Guyana, Lockwood shared that he is simply looking forward to “nice people, wonderful weather and interesting scenery”.

The group of tourists in Guyana is divided into three sub-groups; these sub-groups have different itineraries. While each sub-group will be visiting the Kaieteur Falls, Georgetown, the Baganara Island resort and enjoy the popular Essequibo River tour during the course of the three days, each of these will be engaging these activities at a different time.

Lecturer Winifred Keeves was one who was wholly looking forward to what Guyana has to offer.

“I’ve been to South America many times…I love South America… I love the islands, but this was important for me because I love the continent,” she said. “I love wildlife, I love the rainforests so I should enjoy that, and enjoy the river trips.”

She, like many of her fellow tourists, had never visited Guyana.

Nevertheless, she stressed: “It (Guyana) is a place made for tourism, if only people would come,” she stressed.

As a first-time visitor of Guyana, a retired Chemistry teacher, Richard Chambers shared that he and many of his fellow tourists felt the warm hospitality emanating from the country- indicated by the ‘welcoming posse’ on the wharf.

“In the U.K. we do not think, yet, of Guyana as a tourist destination [for cruises],” he said however, while explaining: “Geographically it’s a bit detached from the Caribbean.”

TASK FORCE
Transforming Guyana into a tourist destination for cruises is something the Ministry of Business and other stakeholders have begun to address, Director- General of Tourism, Donald Sinclair said.

Sinclair reminded the media, on Friday, that, in 2018, a cruise ship came to Guyana, but the tourists could not enjoy the country because of technical difficulties experienced.

“We’re happy that this time we were able to put all arrangements in place to bring this one here,” he highlighted. “This is all because we put together something called the crew-visit task force, comprising all the relevant agencies.”

This task force was instituted specifically for cruise visits, according to him, with this visit being the first. Encompassed in this task force is a myriad of stakeholder agencies that are required for this type of tourism.

“We put together all those agencies to make sure that nothing could go wrong and that the welcome could be superb,” he explained, while adding that these agencies would be those that function to ensure that tourists are processed in a “speedy amount of time” and to ensure that health, revenue and safety requirements are in place.

Sinclair further disclosed that local operators were in contact with foreign cruise operators as part of efforts to attract a “steady flow” of similar tourists.

“What the department of tourism will do is prepare a manual of Standard Operational Procedures (SOPs), so when other cruises are coming you just refer to that and you know what all the steps are,” he said.

Moreover, he indicated that, since Guyana has won the international award for being the number one ecotourism destination in the world, there will be more curiosity about Guyana and what Guyana has to offer. As such, it is incumbent upon the ministry to ensure that all systems are in place.