IN order to strengthen mutual tourism co-operation, Guyana’s Minister of Tourism, Industry, and Commerce Oneidge Walrond and Costa Rica’s Minister of Tourism William Rodriguez Lopez, signed a letter of intent and collaboration on Friday.

The signing took place at the Costa Rican Tourism Board Building in San Jose, in the minister’s office, where the agreement covers institutional structures, a plan of action, and additional areas of partnership like knowledge sharing and technical support.

Over the next three days, Minister Walrond and Kamrul Baskh, Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA), will travel to the Central American nation for a series of meetings.
These meetings will include talks with the tourism management and certification department directors of the Costa Rican Tourism Board and the Marketing Director of the Costa Rican Tourism Board.

The programme also includes possible areas of co-operation between the Tourism and Hospitability Association of Guyana (THAG) and the National Chamber of Tourism of Costa Rica (Canatur). It will also feature tourism investment opportunities in both Guyana and Costa Rica.

Director of GTA Kamrul Baskh told Guyana Chronicle that the trip and engagement with between the two countries are essential for many reasons. He said: “For one, we are doing a series of meetings with government and non-government entities to get a sense of how Costa Rica has developed a world-class tourism experience and industry.”

He also stated that he and Minister Walrond had meetings with the National Learning Institute in the country, giving them first-hand experience of how Guyana can develop its hospitality institute.

The director also said they had meetings with Canatur to see how they could develop partnerships there.

“We have had meetings also with the investment arm here, and we have also met with the Director of Marketing and the Director of Tourism Management, in addition to meeting with the Minister of Tourism and formalising that relationship with Costa Rica,” he said.

Kamrul said, “We are here to observe as much as possible, and we are looking forward to strengthening the relationship between the two countries. We are going to be engaging in mutual areas of interest in co-operation in the coming weeks and months, and a strategic action plan is currently being devised to flush out all the areas of co-operation between Guyana and Costa Rica. This is inclusive of investments, product development, marketing, tourism education and capacity building, exchange programmes and more.”

According to Baksh, all of the initiatives are geared towards accelerating development for Guyana’s tourism industry, which President Irfaan Ali and the Government of Guyana lead.
He noted that the Costa Ricans have been “incredibly supportive of Guyana’s tourism sector and have welcomed us wholeheartedly.” They were very forthcoming with information and best practices in the industry, and Guyana looks forward to being in partnership with them.”