DESPITE the global economic downturn and decline of tourism in the Caribbean region, Guyana’s tourist arrivals have shown an average increase of 8.4 per cent at the end of May last.

This is according to Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Mr. Manniram Prashad, in an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle yesterday at his South Road, Georgetown office.

Compared to last year’s figures, in January there was a seven percent increase, in February 21.8 per cent increase, in March a 5.8 per cent decline, in April a 11.5 per cent increase, and in May a 7.7 per cent increase.

“When you check this average, including the five per cent decline, we average 8.4 per cent to date at the end of May,” the minister said.

He observed that tourist arrivals have declined in most of the Caribbean islands because of their tourism being “sun, sand and sea” and “cruise ships”.

He explained, “In North America, most of the people are visiting other States because of the recession and the economic downturn.”

“States are promoting themselves and you find the average traveller with less money and with layoffs and what is happening in America and Europe in terms of the economy, travel to the Caribbean declined significantly.”

He observed that some destinations in the region lost about 25 per cent of their regular arrivals for the first five months of 2009.

He said at the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) Second Annual Tourism Summit last month in Washington D.C, this was a common trend, and the organisation is looking at ways to arrest this situation.

However, in the case of Guyana, the tourism product is different.

“Our tourism does not depend so much on cruise ships; and because our tourism is different, the tourists that come to us mostly from Europe are still coming because we have a special product, and our product cannot be found in let us say Barbados, Trinidad, Jamaica or St. Lucia,” he explained.

“So we have not suffered that decline,” he said.

“Guyana is a new kid on the block”, he observed, with its nature, adventure and eco tourism.

“And now there is the discovery and advancement of birding tourism, which is something completely new to us,” Prashad added.

Prashad disclosed that all the birding familiarisation (FAM) trips have been filled, while all the resorts in the Iwokrama area are also booked until June next year.

Some of the resorts that did very well last year are Iwokrama, Surama, Rockview and Karanambu which feeds off Wilderness Explorers, one of the tour operators that pursue an aggressive marketing strategy to promote Destination Guyana, he said.

He said that Tony Thorne, who manages Wilderness Explorer, has been attending all the major international trade fairs that Guyana participates in, including the World Travel Market in London and the International Trade Bourst (ITB) in Berlin.

The minister said it was through Wilderness Explorer that the first cruise ship, ‘The Spirit of Adventure’ visited Guyana in April this year, while another is expected during the next quarter.

He recalled that Guyana had a packed schedule of events over the past months, including Mashramani, international cricket and Easter events which attracted many visitors.

A series of other major events are planned for the rest of the year, including Wakenaam Night, traditional August Monday activity at Tiger Island, and GuyExpo.

He also observed that town days and reunions that were held in the United States and Canada, such as Grove Day, Mahaica Day, St. Joseph Reunion and St. Rose’s Reunion are now happening in Guyana.

“In fact, St. Joseph Reunion is taking place in a next couple of weeks, so you find hundreds more visitors coming back to Guyana,” he stated.

Expressing his satisfaction with the success of the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting just ended here, he emphasised, “But I am particularly happy that the Heads of Government and senior officials stayed back to enjoy the beauty of Guyana.”

Furthermore, he said CTO officials, through his ministry, visited Guyana’s premier tourist destination, the majestic Kaieteur Falls, recently, and were extremely impressed.

He insisted that this “augurs well for the future of Guyana’s tourism” and gives us a chance to negotiate and bargain more with CTO for Guyana to be included in its marketing programme.

The Tourism Minister maintained, “The projection is that we will continue in this trend and we see 2009 as surpassing 2008, despite the global international challenge.”

In May last, CTO Sustainable Tourism Product Specialist, Ms. Gail Henry, had indicated that many tourist destinations are indeed experiencing a very difficult time, in light of the current global crisis.

Henry said a look at some statistics for the first quarter of the year shows that the destinations are being affected because in most of their source markets, many people are not traveling or are holding off on travels.

However, she spoke of Guyana as being one of the tourism destinations in the region that is now developing and making strides in terms of developing regulations which are essential steps along the road to enhancing the image of the destination, and ensuring that visitors have the type of experiences that would bring them back.