Against the backdrop of what it says is its focus on meeting international tourism standards, the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) this week disclosed that it had executed a training exercise between August 13th and 17th, in the North Rupununi, designed to move the country’s tourism sector towards meeting the international Adventure Travel Guide Standard.
In a release issued earlier this week, the GTA said that its forum titled, ‘Raising the Bar for Adventure and Ecotourism Guiding’ which was held in the North Rupununi region, targeted “pre-qualified tour guides.” It also included a Master Training exercise for four local Guide Trainers who have been identified to undertake future training exercises.
With an eye to meeting international tourism standards and better equipping the country to meaningfully tap into the lucrative adventure and ecotourism market, the release notes that the training initiative had been undertaken against the backdrop of the rapid growth of the industry which it said had jumped from an estimated US$89 billion in 2010 to US$263 billion in 2013, and is expected to realize a compound annual growth rate of 45.99% between 2016-2020.
