Guyana might not have the exposure, expertise and finance, but it has a special type of tourism that can reap many benefits, Minister of Tourism Manniram Prashad said yesterday.
Speaking at the opening of the University of Guyana’s fourth Tourism Conference, Prashad said a lot of focus has been placed on the industry, especially in the last 18 months.
Guyana might not have blue water, but it has eco-tourism; miles and miles of beach, for example, the Number 63 Beach and we have “nice brown therapeutic water”, he added.
He pointed to the need for a positive attitude when it comes to tourism and mentioned the successes the country has had during Cricket World Cup and GuyExpo, both of which attracted many tourists. He said the country has become a “buddy tourism destination” now, bei6ng compared to Peru.
Prashad opined that with the Caricom Single Market and Economy more people were converging on Guyana looking for investments. Speaking directly to the tourism students, he said, in the future “more and more people will require your services because you are trained”.
Dean of the Faculty of Education and Humanities Tota Mangar noted that Guyana has tremendous scope for the development of the tourism sector with our dense forest, waterfalls and flora and fauna.
Noting that Guyana was set to host Carifesta next year, Mangar said expectation for this event was high and all the relevant agencies in the tourism industry have to get on board.
He urged the students to engage in active participation and discussions during and after the conference.
During the one-day conference, the participants heard presentations on defining the Guyana Amazonian, Selling Amazonian Adventure Tourism – from biking to hiking, Indigenous Cuisine – the little known attraction, Organising for Indigenous Tourism – Rockstone and North Rupununi among others.
The university’s tourism programme focuses on eco-tourism, business management tourism, tour planning, and culture tourism among others. A Bachelor’s Degree in Tourism is being offered along with other minor courses and plans are under way to start an associate degree programme.
The conference was held at Le Meridien Pegasus under the theme ‘Defining Guyana’s Agenda for Destination Amazonia Year 2009’.
The year 2009 had been designated ‘Destination Amazonia Year’ for the eight countries that are members of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty: Bolivia, Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia. These countries will be working on developing sustainable tourism in the Amazon region by that year.
Yesterday’s conference attracted the university’s tourism students as well as members of the public who have an interest in the sector and all the participants were encouraged to make suggestions as to how Guyana can achieve its goal.
