THE Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) has announced that Dagron Tours and Wilderness Explorers have been granted conditional approval to welcome travellers to their offices and host them on tours. According to a release, the two entities have met the National COVID-19 measures and the authority’s recommended Hygiene and Sanitation Protocols.
Dagron Tours and Wilderness Explorers bring the total to 15 tourism businesses that have received conditional approval to reopen and are marked as safe for travel since December 1, 2020.
“The strides our industry has made towards reopening is most definitely noteworthy. It is my belief that the businesses that have already received their conditional letters of approval and are benefitting from the Safe-for-Travel marketing campaign will serve as a form of encouragement to other businesses to reassure them that as long as they take the necessary steps and implement the stipulated measures, they too will be able to reopen,” said GTA Director Carla James.

Domestic and international travellers are advised to use only GTA-approved tourism businesses to book and plan their tour activities. These businesses that have been granted their conditional approval are reminded to maintain the protocols as outlined by the Guyana Tourism Authority and the national, gazetted safety measures.
“Failure to adhere to these measures will result in the revocation of the conditional approval tied to the COVID-19 measures,” the release said.
The amendment to the COVID-19 National Safety Measures gazette made on January 13, 2021 allows indoor dining at restaurants at 40 per cent capacity, but only with the approval of the Guyana Tourism Authority. Monitoring and inspecting restaurants to ensure that all COVID-19 protocols as stipulated by the Ministry of Health are in place before they are allowed to offer indoor dining will fall strictly under the purview of the GTA with support from the Mayor and City Council, Ministry of Health and the regional health offices.
Restaurants must modify indoor spaces to allow for ‘socially distanced’ seating allotments and follow other guidelines set out to meet the requirements and apply to the GTA for conditional approval to reopen for this purpose. Approved restaurants will be marked with official signage provided by the GTA indicating that they have been safely reopened for indoor dining and the maximum capacity that is permitted to dine.

Restaurants that fail to adhere to the stipulated measures as outlined by the Guyana Tourism Authority and the national, gazetted safety measures will be subject to immediate closure for a period of one month. The process for this approval will follow the same two-step process as conditional approval for the reopening of tourism businesses, which are: submission of a business’s written Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) to the GTA for a desk review and on-site inspection of businesses to verify the implementation of the SoPs and conditional approval by the GTA.
Businesses that already have their internal SoPs template are required to submit these which must clearly outline the specific hygiene and sanitation protocols in place. Inspections are scheduled to commence on Saturday January 16, 2021. As a reminder, Tourism Accommodation Establishments (Hotels) are required to also adhere to the process to be listed as “Safe for Travel” and are encouraged to submit their Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) to Micheala Lindore (+592-696-8959), Tourism Business Support Officer within the GTA at micheala@guyanatourism.com and copy Carla James, Director of the GTA at carla@guyanatourism.com.