Tourism, Industry, and Commerce Minister, Oneidge Walrond joined Salaudeen Nausrudeen on Friday for the launching of his $60 million travel app and website, Kaietour at the Herdmanston Lodge, Georgetown.
Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Oneidge Walrond and Salaudeen Nausrudeen at the launching
The launching of the application, described by many of the speakers at the launching ceremony, will greatly contribute to Guyana’s tourism sector as it paves a path for more tourism traffic in Guyana. The application was developed to level the playing field of Guyana’s tourism operators in Guyana with the rest of the world.
“Kaietour was developed because we believe that Guyana’s tourism operators were at a disadvantage, invisible to the world. We need to have our tourism inventory online to easily and efficiently reach tourists and our diaspora especially and not only have their bookings reserved, but confirmed,” Nausrudeen told the gathering
The CEO said that the app will be a game-changer in Guyana’s tourism sector.
“It’s a Guyana-centric global booking app. It is definitely a proud moment for the Kaietour team to deliver today to the Guyana tourism operators and stakeholders and to the nation of Guyana, a robust and thorough digital platform that will place our unique and rich tourism products online for global exposure and global marketing. It is definitely going to be a game-changer in Guyana’s tourism manifestation,” he said.
According to Nausrudeen, the app is expected to connect tourists to many hospitality services offered by the Guyanese communities in the various regions.
“So, in essence, Kaietour is the missing link, the missing book now button, the marketing and sales of tourism products for Guyana,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the Tourism Minister applauded the persons and entities involved in the making of the app, making known that the app will greatly contribute to the Government’s agenda of building a “One Guyana.”
She said, “It’s more than just the eco-lodges and it’s more than just our hotels, those are all pretty important aspects of our tourism industry, but what we are trying to market and we’re trying to sell to Guyana, to communicate to Guyanese is tourism and Guyana are one, they’re synonymous. That tourism is about Guyana, it is about Guyanese. It’s about marketing this ‘One Guyana’.”
The app has also partnered with Mobile Money Guyana (MMG) to enable customers to pay for services directly through the app.
In addition, the Kaietour app will create some forty jobs for its customer service centre to assists customers from all over the world who use the app.
The application, which helps travellers to easily search, plan and book their trips with a wide selection of vacation packages, tour packages, flights, hotels, and car rentals from around the world and in Guyana, had been in the works for the past eighteen months, with over $60 million invested into the creation of the app.
Also present at the launching ceremony was the High Commissioner of India to Guyana, Dr KJ Srinivasa, members of the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) and members of the various Private Sector entities. (G2)
