THE Tourism Ministry and the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) have recorded 2014 as the best year of arrivals into Guyana.Visitor arrivals in November alone increased by 13%, and the increase is projected to reach some 15% in 2015.

Tourism is both the most important and the most strategic sector to secure Guyana’s future growth and development. Coupled with stellar levels of service, Guyana’s tourism sector will be propelled onto the international front, Tourism Minister (ag) Irfaan Ali noted.

The Tourism Ministry noted that, in 2014, the sector gave the country the right to boast of being one of the countries in the entire Caribbean to record consecutive months of record-breaking arrivals. Guyana has recorded a two percent increase in arrivals to date, and several months of record-breaking arrivals, including July, August, September and October. Those months have recorded fantastic arrival figures which have been deemed the best ever since 1995.

It should be noted, too, that 2013 was also a record-breaking year for arrivals in Guyana. Guyana Tourism Authority Director Mr. Indranauth Haralsingh credited this worldwide recognition to the improvement in infrastructure that supports growth of the industry, as well as to the increasing investments in the sector. It is anticipated that our visitor arrivals in 2015 will increase by as much as 15%.

“In this regard, efforts must be made to prepare local human resources to take on the important function within the hospitality industry, and guard against tourists’ first experience here being undesirable. Hence it becomes equally important to recognise all the benefits the establishment of the Hospitality Institute will bring”, he noted.

It was further explained that the increase represents visitors from across the Caribbean Region, especially from Suriname, Brazil, and Jamaica. There were numerous amounts of visitors who would have visited Guyana on familiarization trips (FAM), and it can be projected that, within 2015, out of these trips positive arrivals would manifest. Also adding to the arrivals would be the hosting and attending of several key events, including the British Bird Watching Fair in London, among others.

It is expected that 2015 will be another record breaking year in term of arrivals, and the sector is projecting to host several FAM trips, which would result in more persons visiting Guyana.
(Rebecca Ganesh-Ally)