GUYEXPO 2012 will be held from September 27 to 30 under the theme “Strengthening the traditional, embracing the new”, and will have a broad and concentrated focus on securing international buyers for the products and produce of exhibitors. According to Indranauth Haralsingh, Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority, the respective sector bodies of several countries have already signalled their interest in participating in this year’s activities.
The Trade Department of the United States Embassy is also expected to participate in GuyExpo 2012; as are Canada, India, Venezuela, Mexico, French Guiana, Suriname, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, and St. Lucia.
Haralsingh said that this year’s expo also hopes to create a network for the exhibitors with the persons who have a genuine interest in securing items and products they see on display, be it short-term or long-term.
He added that the countries listed are not just coming as exhibitors, but as buyers as well.
Haralsingh said the Tourism Ministry hopes to ensure that the GuyExpo events are not transactional in nature, but are more sustainable activities that see businesses and exhibitors receiving increased orders from those who visit the booths.
He said there is need for the companies and exhibitors to create and establish contact with the overseas buyers, and even exhibitors and manufacturers as well.
At the moment, the entire drainage system within the Sophia Exhibition Site is being enhanced, with workers digging them deeper, and widening some of them to ensure a more efficient and effective drainage of water from the complex whenever it rains.
The Ministry of Tourism and the GuyExpo management team are expecting to have approximately 500 large, medium, micro and new exhibitors at this year’s expo. Already, there have been two hundred exhibitors, Indranauth explained to the media.
And like every exhibition, this one is planned to be the ‘biggest’.
Haralsingh said that, as obtains every year, the expo gives businesses and companies the opportunity to interact with their customers, and see the works of their competitors.
The expo also creates a forum where exhibitors get to see customers’ responses and reactions to their products, and gauge the impact the product has been creating on the market.
This year’s GuyExpo will also see several formal activities, such as business seminars as well as one on the “Jagdeo Initiative” on agriculture, which will outline the challenges of the sector.
Asked what effect the loud music will have on hosting the seminars, Haralsingh said the seminars will be held at the International Conference Centre.
This year, visitors and exhibitors to GuyExpo 2012 will also have a chance to view Guyana in a 2020/2025 vision, pinpointing areas for development and what the country is expected to look like in those years ahead.
The areas that are expected to be of focus in that 2020/2025 village are: the airport expansion, massive road and infrastructure works, Amaila Falls Hydro Project, rural electrification projects, and the bridging of the Corentyne River.
Haralsingh also said that there will be no usual disturbance of loud music at the Expo. He said that the music at the venue will be confined to the area where the beverage companies are located. Those companies are ANSA McAL, Banks DIH Ltd and DDL. The music will be regulated at a very medium decibel, and be completely shut off at 23.00 hrs nightly.
He said that while this will be the regulation, the event must have music, since the activity remains a unique one, and entertainment is an integral part of it, and it was designed with the family and business community in mind.
The GTA boss said that this year will see a two-hour special shopping time for persons who wish to make genuine purchases before the actual expo is opened to the public.
During that period, no music will be played, in order to facilitate an atmosphere that is conducive for shopping, where the customers and exhibitors can communicate without difficulty hearing each other.
The traffic situation was also addressed, with Singh saying that there are arrangements in place to ensure that there is limited congestion for getting to the venue.
Asked about the successes over the years as they relate to increased sales for the exhibitors, he said that the GTA and Tourism Ministry conduct yearly exit surveys in which the benefits and advantages of the expo are measured. Over the years, it was discovered that there have been success stories for companies which would have participated in the expo.