– ‘This garbage problem is ridiculous. It’s criminally insane’ – THAG President
THE Tourism & Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) has acknowledged that the biggest challenge facing it is the current garbage situation which sees “every single tourist” complaining about the city. THAG President Paul Stephenson said so at a press conference he hosted yesterday at Herdmanston Lodge, Peter Rose Street, Queenstown, Georgetown, where he was accompanied by Executive Director, Treina Butts, Committee Member, Dee George and Treasurer, Mitra Ramkumar.
Mr. Stephenson said the sector arranges comprehensive tours around the capital and persons being taken around are “embarrassed” because of the garbage pile-ups.
Alluding to the gravity of the issue, he said officers in the sector would have to devise routes so that tourists would not see the refuse and tell the taxi drivers how to get the individuals from the airport to their hotels.
“It’s ridiculous. It’s criminally insane,” Stephenson declared, adding: “It (the city) must be cleaned. We just need to fix it because that is a huge negative to the capital city.”
The THAG President said the airlift to Guyana is also a big negative and challenged Caribbean Airlines to get its act together in view of the many “jiggery pokery” that customers have to go through to get to New York and Miami.
He maintained that this affects Guyanese and, moreso, any overseas tourist.
Reviewing the past year, Stephenson said he has already contacted all the hotels and resorts and, though not official as yet, there has been in excess of 200,000 arrivals at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and that sends a positive message to the people involved in tourism.
He said the 65 to 70 percent of hotel occupancy in the interior hotels has been really encouraging and this year is looking good, as well, so far, and is expected to be a record year.
Stephenson said, from the hotels perspective, he anticipates a good year because of the number of developments that have taken place in the various sectors, such as gold, gas, and oil.
Ms. Butts said THAG is hoping to have more hotel personnel trained this year, with help from the Tourism and Home Affairs Ministries.
She said THAG, like last year, also hopes to have engagements with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) during the first quarter.
Butts explained that duty-free concessions have always been an issue and, consequently, there is need to ensure that the process is made more efficient.