THE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has collaborated with travel agents and tourist officials from the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, and Guyana to support the development of Guyana’s tourism industry.

The engagement which the ministry’s Diaspora Unit facilitated is in keeping with the development agenda of the government on partnering with travel agents to promote Guyana as a tourist destination and develop attractive tour packages.

Head of the Diaspora Unit, Rosalinda Rasul, said the initiative is necessary to discuss current ideas and challenges and how to overcome and remedy the difficulties to market more of Guyana.
“There are others in the Caribbean, New York, and Canada that want to do more, but they haven’t been able to get the kind of packages, so this collaboration is to hear your challenges and what you think is a good idea to sell more of Guyana,” Rasul underscored.

The travel agencies also gave feedback and suggested how Guyana’s tourism sector can be boosted.

These include having a direct tourism representative on the ground in various countries to disseminate promotional materials pertaining to Guyana.

Recommendations were also advanced on providing efficient information to tourists visiting Guyana.

Senior Manager for Destination Marketing at the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA), Annarie Seecharan, noted that the agency is actively developing packages for Barbados and St Lucia.
“We are working and still ironing out with our sister agencies within those islands to look at various packages, and packages will vary depending on where people want to go and what they want to do,” Seecharan said.

Participants were also engaged by the Diaspora Unit through promotional videos showcasing Guyana, such as the New Amsterdam Recreational Park and Guyana’s National Beautification Projects, among others.