The Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) expects this year to see record tourist arrivals and wants the Minister of Finance to give due recognition to the contribution that the sector is making to the economy.
This is according to Paul Stephenson, President of THAG who said that last year was very good for the tourism sector. “I have contacted all the resorts, all the hotels, and if you look at the total arrivals, we are certainly looking at in excess of 200,000 people at [Cheddi Jagan International Airport]. This has a ripple effect in terms of a positive message and results for the hotels, the resorts and people involved in the sector,” he told a press conference held at the Herdmanston Lodge, Georgetown.
Stephenson said on average the hotels and resorts saw 65 percent to 70 percent occupancy. “So it was a good year,” he said.
Turning to 2012, Stephenson said that the year is looking quite good and that “certainly in terms of tourists arrivals I would imagine 2012 to be a record year.”
He added that from the hotel perspective, he anticipates a very good year. “We had a number of developments in various sectors such as gas, oil, and even before we discover oil, advance crews are coming into Guyana,” he said. He noted that there is a lot of Trinidadian interest in Guyana and that a lot of Trinidadian companies are coming to partner with Guyana in advance of the expectation that Guyana hits oil.
He said that it will not only positively benefit the tourism sector but also the entire service industry.
“The tourism sector is not dominated and controlled by the resorts and the hotels in Georgetown.
“If you look at taxi drivers, if you look at bars, if you look at restaurants, they are not necessarily members of THAG but they provide an important service to the sector,” he said. “If you look at the food supply companies…we at the hotels need to buy food, we need to utilize utilities.
So when I say the tourism sector it is not necessarily hotels and resorts. It is the whole spectrum of industries that service the needs of that sector,” he said.
“We need the recognition of the sector,” said Stephenson. “How much revenue does the tourism sector generate? When we identify that number…then we will go to the Minister of Finance…and say we could grow this number by five or ten percent if we make this investment in the sector,” he said. “Right now the revenues for tourism, I understand, are put under other services.
All I want or do is simply extract that figure out of other services and have us recognized as an independent, hard currency, GDP contributor to the economy,” he said.
Treina Butts, THAG’s Executive Director, said that at the beginning of 2011 there were a number or areas that THAG targeted.
She said THAG started partnering with the ministries of Tourism and Home Affairs, in the areas of security for the sector and the hoteliers within the sector as well as improving areas of duty-free concession and other areas.
“Through THAG’s Health Safety and Standards Committee we started an engagement with the Ministry of Home Affairs that we are hoping that we will be able to affect training for those officers who are now coming out to work in the street…how they deal with visitors, how they deal with issues as they arise, immigration,” she said.
She noted that issues have come up with regard to hoteliers as well as bars which have been affected by loud behaviour.
“They would be providing some training to our hoteliers…how they should deal with issues of disturbances.
If someone is wanted [by the police] in the hotel how does the hotel deal with that, how the police should approach that hotel as well as the front desk and how we can make that process smoother without disrupting other visitors staying at the location,” Butts said.
“We have had consultations with the [Guyana Revenue Authority] and we anticipate being able to engage them again in the first quarter of 2012, working with the Guyana Office for Investment. Duty free concession has been an issue that has been in the media and our members continue to raise concerns over the lengthy process.
We are trying to ensure that that process is made more efficient to the benefit of the membership,” she said.
