PRESIDENT Dr. Irfaan Ali has said that potential major infrastructural developments in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) will help to boost the region’s tourism potential.
“To do this, we have to upgrade the roads, we have to upgrade the airstrip, we have to look at making this region, and developing the capacity of this region to at least have a minimum municipal standard airstrip/aerodrome so that we can support the development in the hinterland… those are things that are necessary to prop the types of investment, and types of projects that we want,” President Ali said in his address to residents of the region, on Wednesday.

He added: “The days and time when you can spend nine hours on a ferry to come to a region for tourism are far gone. If you are to build tourism, whether it’s day tourism or weekend tourism or long stay, we have to be able to build a product that is connected to a wider product, and we have to build the infrastructure that will allow us to build that product here.”
President Ali related that persons also need to be trained, for which provisions have already been made.
“We are setting aside resources to train 6,000 people in the hospitality sector, and we want people from this region to be trained, but importantly we want to have the transformative infrastructure that could bring people to the region,” the Head of State said.
The President also spoke of a potential road link that will enable persons to travel to the opposite side of Bartica.
Dr. Ali said: “These are the types of transformative infrastructure that will open up new opportunities, create new opportunities, and this is the vision that we are pursuing, a vision that is aimed at increasing prosperity, and improving opportunities for you.”

He noted that the development path is one which sees a region that is sustainable, food and energy secure, and responsive to climate change with the investments that will be made.
The partnership with the Government of Barbados to collectively market the two countries, and the Tourism Ministry’s effort to develop the region was also highlighted by the Head of State.
The Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce has been working to develop the Essequibo tourism circuit which includes parts of Regions Two, Three and Seven.
Tourism Minister Oneidge Walrond, while on a media tour in late 2021, had said that there will be upgrades to the tourist sites in the Essequibo circuit.
Sites along the Essequibo circuit include the forts; several waterfalls such as the Baracara and Marshal Falls, and several tourist resorts in Bartica and the wider Essequibo River.