WITH the changes brought on by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), DAI Global, and Wilderness Explorers (WE), on Wednesday evening, unveiled the ‘Discover Guyana’ Tourism applications (apps).

Sharing the details of the applications at a simple ceremony held at Cara Lodge, GTA’s Director (ag), Kamrul Baksh, said that the platforms allow for the screening of guests before they arrive at their intended destination in the country.

Baksh said the applications also allow service providers to create profiles for their establishments and add various features.
He said that the development of such an application highlights the work that is being done by the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce and its sub-agencies to push the tourism products and services of Guyana to a higher level.

Subject Minister, Oneidge Walrond, urged the embracement of technology and partnerships to further boost Guyana’s tourism sector.

“Today’s [Wednesday’s] launch is a response to all these lessons; that we have to embrace technology, we have embraced partnership; that is, public-private partnership,” Minister Walrond said.
Additionally, she related that the applications will provide reassurance to visitors when they come to destination Guyana.

“As we launch this app, we hope to send a strong signal to our visitors that your safety is our top priority and to our service providers and to the communities that will be welcoming our visitors that the safety of our visitors… the safety of our employees, the safety of our communities is the priority of the government,” Minister Walrond said.

The first mobile application named “Discover Guyana” is built specifically for travellers. It provides real-time information on safeguards, standards and certified providers at each stage of their inbound and outbound travel to the region.

Travellers could plan their trip by viewing GTA’s certified tourism establishment profiles, communicate directly with tourism providers, and add required health records for easy screening during travel.

The second mobile application, Discover Guyana Tourism Service Providers, allows tourism service providers to create profiles for their establishments, demonstrate their COVID-19 certification information to travellers, respond to inquiries, and access up-to-date health information to keep their staff and visitors safe.

The application also features a check-in system that will require travellers to check in and out of lodges and answer periodic questions about their health in order to track a visitor’s travel history in the event of a positive case.

The applications were developed by a local technology company and could work with little or no internet connection, making it easy for those service providers based in outlying regions of the country.