Current political climate can negatively impact tourism – THAG

Guyana’s hard-earned title as the number one eco-tourism destination in the world could face major setbacks if the current political climate in the country escalates, said the Tourism Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG).
“[The tourism industry] is one of the industries that takes years to build, but it can shut down in a matter of days if you make the wrong decisions,” said Mitra Ramkumar, the President of THAG.

“It would be extremely sad if we as a nation that is the number one eco-tourism in the world… [with] six awards that we would have won last year… it would be incredibly sad if we throw all of this away just because we can’t go through an election process”, he explained.
Nevertheless, Ramkumar empathised with the concern of the people but he called on them to exercise maturity. He also called on GECOM to have the electoral process completed transparently.
“We understand the anxiety in people and so we want to appeal to GECOM to bring closer and have this process completed transparently. I am calling on all Guyanese to let peace prevail,” he expressed.
Up to press time, THAG had not received any reports of cancellations of reservations at hotels, but he is concerned that such actions may be imminent with the current political climate.
Meanwhile, he also encouraged people to visit Guyana.
“I want to encourage people to come to our beautiful country because we have so much to offer, in our people, in our food, in the way we dress, different festivals… we have Phagwah around the corner a lot of people come for that festival. We want to encourage you to continue to come to our beautiful country,” he urged.
There is much uncertainty in the country following an attempt to commit electoral fraud – a development which has been acknowledged by the international community including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, European Union, Commonwealth, Organisation of American States and even the Caribbean Community (Caricom).