–says tourism minister

GUYANA’S pristine and untouched eco-tourism beauty continues to capture the attention of millions of people from around the world.
Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Oneidge Walrond, during a recent interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI), said Guyana continues to ‘sell’ itself on the world stage with its pristine beauty.
Recently, the country won another award for the best ‘Stay Safe’ video at the Golden City Gate Awards.
The multimedia contest was held for the 21st time during this year’s ITB, the world’s largest travel trade show, which was held virtually from March 9 to 12, 2021 due to the pervasive novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

This is the second time that Guyana has been awarded first place in the “Golden City Gate” category. In 2019, Guyana also secured first place after submitting a video in the ‘destination’ category.
“It is testimony of the sheer beauty of Guyana and that there is not much that we need to do to market ourselves. We just capture that beauty, awesomeness on camera and it attracts people because it so pristine and untouched. Guyana sells itself,” Minister Walrond said.
The contest, streamed live from Germany, saw a total of 122 film entries from 23 countries. After much consideration, the 32-members “international jury” honoured the “Welcome back to Guyana” video which was produced by the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA).
The tourism authority, in its award-winning video, highlighted the country’s diverse natural and cultural heritage, and encouraged visits to Guyana once the pandemic subsides.

Minister Oneidge said too that the emerging petroleum sector is also serving as an impetus for interested travels.
“Because of the oil and gas, more eyes have turned to Guyana or more attention is geared to Guyana because oil and gas is money.
“So yes, more people are coming because of the oil and gas and when they research Guyana, they realise that Guyana is not just oil and gas, we have just a pristine, wonderful product so that has been highlighted and amplified because of the sheer number of people that have been interested,” she said, adding that the government remains committed to building a diversified economy.
“When we hit oil, it was such a huge reserve; it caught everybody’s attention and we have been able to capture that attention with our eco-tourism product. And we continue as government to promote Guyana as a diversified economy where tourism, oil and gas, agriculture and all other sectors are going to be developed,” she said.
Minister Walrond further said that the petroleum sector has been a real springboard for the economy and it is helping the tourism sector to “bounce back” from the damning effects of the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic. (Extracted from DPI)