President Ramotar alludes to more tourism opportunities
PRESIDENT Donald Ramotar said the return of Surinam Airways, here, offers Guyana an opportunity to attract more European tourists to the destination and will help push the development of the tourism industry. The Head of State was speaking at a brief ceremony in the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri, hosted to mark the resumption of Surinam Airways flights last Tuesday.
Suriname President, Desi Bouterse also arrived on a one-day state visit on board the flight.
President Ramotar, welcoming the guests from neighbouring Suriname said: “It seems the relationship between Guyana and Suriname is growing stronger and stronger as the days go by,” noting that, only a few days before, Assuria, a Suriname insurance company opened offices in Guyana.
“…this shows very, very clearly that Guyana and Suriname are taking, very seriously, our commitment towards integration of our countries’ economies and integration with CARICOM as a whole.”
Mr. Ramotar added: “This step, of Surinam Airways flying to Guyana and going on to Miami, is very important for all of us.
“Very important, as his Excellency, the President of Suriname said, that it helps us to tap into our Diaspora – of their initiatives and their capital to come to our countries and to make it easier for them to be travelling to Guyana and to Suriname for investment opportunities and even to relax.”
He said:“It is also very important, as I said before, because of our own geographic positions where we are, being Caribbean countries and, at the same time, being South American countries, and with connection on to Belem and then further into Brazil, this is another very practical and material step in looking towards even broader integration of the South.
“And this will also give us easier opportunities to fly to other southern destinations in Africa where, to get there nowadays, we have to fly to the North and then fly back past our countries in going in that direction. Now this will offer us possibilities of getting there faster, cheaper and less fatiguing,” the President said.

VERY GOOD
President Ramotar remarked: “It is, therefore, a very good day for us. It also offers another possibility that Guyana has been pushing to develop and Suriname, too, has done well in that regard, pushing for the development of our tourist industries.
“I think that we need more flights directly to our country to encourage the development of tourism because we do have a very good tourist product that we can develop.
“And Surinam Airline coming directly here offers us also an easier way and probably a faster way of getting to Europe and attracting more European tourists to make Guyana a destination for European tourists at this point in time.”
Guyana’s tourism industry has been making strides and testament to this is an increased allocation in this year’s national budget with over $200M allocated for the continued expansion of the sector, as it is anticipated that its contribution to the national economy will grow considerably, in the near future.
Additionally, Guyana is preparing to host the 13th Annual Caribbean Tourism Organisation Sustainable Tourism Conference (STC-13), from April 15-18, under the theme ‘Keeping the Right Balance: Sustaining Our Resources’.
It will focus on issues relating to conservation, integrating bio-diversity into hotel and resort siting and design an agro and culinary tourism, while allowing the country to showcase its tourism product to over 250 delegates and over 30 international journalists expected from the Caribbean, North America and Europe.