“More promotion needed for local tours” – THAG President

…as GTA launches 7 new tourism experiences

President of the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) Dee George called for more promotion to showcase the country’s tourism products.
This was her plea as the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) in collaboration with stakeholders launched seven new tourism experiences. These include the Rupununi Hiking and Cultural Expedition, Jaguar Tour, Jungle Survival Tour Rockstone, Kato Hiking and ATV adventure, Essequibo River Jungle Trip and Jonestown Memorial Tour.

George highlighted that, while there is a wide range of recreational activities for persons to engage in during their free time, many persons are unaware of these activities.
“Very often you hear, what can I do in Guyana? And you know it’s quiet, the time is appropriate for us to give those answers. We always knew that there are products to experience. Today it’s an unveiling of even more. So now the challenge is, how do we ensure that persons who very often say that line, we get these products out to them? We make it very seamlessly available, and for them to be able to experience, and enjoy, and all the finer details for them to say, yes, I want to go.”
She added that, with increased promotional campaigns, persons could benefit significantly from the tourist influx predicted for 2025.
“We can start our promotions knowing fully well what’s happening in 2025. And on that note, I am saying, we, within the private sector as well, are open to seeing how we can actually take full advantage of what we’ve just heard.”

Also present at the launch event was Director of the GTA Kamrul Baksh, who revealed that several of these new experiences were funded through the GTA product development grant.
“Two years ago, we decided to launch the product development grant, and I believe about four products that were launched today are beneficiaries of that grant and the intention of that grant is really to, one, stimulate creativity and also to assist operators who have great ideas, but simply require the added assistance to offset available expenses.”
Through the grant, up to $1 million can be accessed. The grant caters to persons who want to develop their tourism products and improve the services they offer. According to Baksh, the seven new experiences will boost the local tourism sector.
“This coming Sunday we will be welcoming Inter Caribbean with the inaugural flight from Grenada. So much more connections at home regionally and even abroad.

Next year summer we’ll have KLM connected from the Netherlands. So with connectivity improvement, we of course require a lot more experience. The expectations from the already discerning visitors are going to be higher. And one of the things I want to call and urge operators to do is to continue to raise that bar of service.”
With the aim of annually rolling out new tourism experiences, the GTA Director urged stakeholders to get creative by tapping into untouched areas of the country.
“That’s one of the areas we’re looking at. Region Eight and its beauty. We need to untap all of those places. It can’t be undiscovered anymore. We need to discover them. We need to package them right and we need to get them to the marketplace as soon as we can. So, you know, operators, if you have any other ideas in any part of, in any region, let us know.”
This year the GTA managed to launch some 15 new tourism experiences. Notably since 2020, the organisation has significantly expanded its catalogue with a total of 64 tours being launched over the last 4 years.