THE Kaieteur National Park was Wednesday morning reopened to the public, following the closure that was made to facilitate the search for female tourist, Gyaneshwarie Laleta Sivanand.During the post-Cabinet press briefing at the Ministry of the Presidency on Wednesday Minister of Governance, Raphael Trotman disclosed that following the incident, several initiatives to improve safety were discussed. This is to help prevent future occurrences of this type of incident.
Minister of Governance, Raphael Trotman, and Minister of Tourism, Cathy Hughes representatives of The Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG), Air Services Limited (ASL), the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA), the Protected Areas Commission (PAC) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) met on September 08 to determine new measures and protocols for visiting guests.
According to Trotman, one of the measures that may be put in place is, the recording of visitor’s personal data. “We are still in the process of refining and defining exactly what it is we are going to do. We decided to introduce a manifest system, so that everybody who comes has to display a form of identification to the park ranger.”
He added that tour guides will be on the ground to assist tourists and make sure that no one wanders off. In addition, there will be a zero tolerance for persons who want to enter the water or who want to consume alcohol. Minister Trotman noted that there is a possibility of putting rails along the water. Government will be seeking advice from parks across the world in dealing with the issue. Even though rescue search for the missing tourist was called off, surrounding communities were urged by Government to be vigilant.