Guyana is not just Georgetown!
─ Regional Tourism Review Session launched
─ aims to change the perception of Georgetown only tourism
DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, July 10, 2019
“The region-led tourism development approach will give each region the opportunity to develop their unique tourism product offering that which will attract both local and foreign visitors. It is my hope that today’s session will be a productive report on your tourism accomplishments, and challenges as well as priorities for 2020.”
It is with this expectation in mind that Minister of Business, Haimraj Rajkumar declared the first ever Regional Tourism Review session open.
Director-General of the Department of Tourism, Donald Sinclair explained to those gathered that the concept of Regional Tourism is aimed at following chapter VII section 71(1) of the Constitution which specifically calls for the involvement of as many people as possible in the task of managing and developing the communities in which they live.
“In other words, we’re spreading the planning out to the level of the regions involving them more and more… Bringing in Municipalities, bringing in sub-districts in the planning of tourism so that tourism planning is not Georgetown centred,” Sinclair said.
According to the Director-General, this is critical in ensuring that every region can carefully manage and play to their niche tourism type, thereby creating unique experiences for each region while drawing the need for localised planning.
“Tourism products should revolve around each region’s strength and uniqueness, for example, we know that Regions 2, 3 and 6 are especially strong in agriculture, so there should be no reason why Agro tourism cannot thrive in these regions.”
Tourism in Guyana has undergone exponential growth over the recent years. With Initiatives like this being employed, we can expect even more and greater development coming from the tourism sector. Tourism is now the third highest contributor to the country’s GDP and has earned several accolades for the country in recent months.
The one-day session held at the Herdmanston Lodge saw participation from several regional tourism representatives and stakeholders.