TOURISM is a big boost to the economy of the North Rupununi villages near Annai and residents and villagers are pleading with the private sector to re-invest in flights to the area.

Toshao of Annai, Mark George, told the Guyana Chronicle that the 2016 cut-off of air service to the area dealt the villages which depended on the service, a severe blow.
He said the situation resulted in residents having to resort to road travel to Annai from Georgetown or alternatively, by air to Lethem from the coastland and a three-hour drive to the village from the border town.

Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson, said the operation of flights into the area was a private sector issue and suggested that the villages which depend on the aircraft service lobby the domestic airlines to resume operations.

In 2016, a contract was awarded for works to be undertaken to the runway at Annai. Minister Patterson told the Guyana Chronicle on Tuesday that rehabilitation works to the runway at the airstrip have been completed.
The $56.9M contract was awarded to SYMS General Contracting Services Incorporated for works to be undertaken at the airstrip, which was also expanded.
In the past, domestic carrier Trans Guyana Airways (TGA) operated flights between the Eugene F Correia International Airport at Ogle and Annai, with connections to Karanambo and Lethem.

FINANCIAL LOSSES
However, in 2016, the airline discontinued the service to Annai, citing financial losses.
This week, a TGA official said he was not aware of any plans by the carrier to resume flights into Annai and according to him, the airline’s primary operations in the Rupununi are straight flights from Ogle to Lethem, using the company’s Beachcraft.
The official also noted that there were few persons travelling to Annai prior to the service being discontinued.

Last weekend, Toshao George told the Guyana Chronicle that the Village Council has signed an agreement with the authorities to provide maintenance to the runway and facilities set up there.
“We are ready to do all we can do to ensure we have the flights here, because many persons would be able to travel and also businesses would find it easier to transport goods,” he said.

Toshao Garnar Edwards of the tourism-dependent village of Rewa, told the Guyana Chronicle that the airlines did not undertake a wide study of the impact discontinuation of the service would have had on the villages there.

KILL TOURISM
Edwards said Rewa village started its own tourism drive several years ago and according to him, it has catapulted the economy of the village.

He said in 2017, the village raked in $77M through tourism, and according to him, this was a feat achieved through road travel from Lethem and Georgetown.
“We really need the air service to return here to Annai; we need it because it is hard for our tourists to travel to and from Lethem by bus for three hours,” George said.
Toshao Edwards said clients usually travel to Apoteri by air charter and they move onwards to Rewa, a trip which he said is costly to tourists.

“Right now the major challenge we have is that before, clients — both local and overseas — used to come into Rock View here at Annai and from there we take them to Rewa and it used to be cheaper,” Edwards said.

He said since the air service was discontinued “we have to get the clients from Lethem and some would cancel their trips because it’s hard for them.”
He said the service would provide an economic boost to Annai and nearby villages, even if the flights are undertaken twice weekly.

Mike Williams of the North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB), who also lives at Annai, noted that the service is “badly needed.”
He told this newspaper that there are occasions when persons travelling to the area from the coastland are made to overnight at Lethem whenever there is no bus to transport them onward to Annai.

He said there are businesses in the area which depend on the transporting of goods and these usually arrive by road, either from Lethem or along the trail from Georgetown.