Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority, Brian Mullis
….Guyana earned $62.6 billion from tourism in 2018
Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) on Wednesday reiterated previous calls for Government to grant more concessions for the tourism sector during its mid-year press conference.
Early in June, The Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) had lobbied Government to grant concessions, as it aimed to have tourism included in the export sector.
GTA’s Director Brian Mullis told the media that the agency’s interested in advocating for tourism to be recognised in the export sector and should be granted tax concessions and incentives just as gold and rice exportations.
“There are a number of tax concessions and incentives for travelling in tourism in the areas of ground transportation, accommodation, refurbishment, expansions and some for tour operators etc…however, recognising that tourism is an export sector, we’re looking for advocating for that formal recognition of the sector as an export sector in 2020 so that we can be afforded some of the tax concessions and incentives that other export sector have,” Mullis explained.
Asked whether there are specific areas in mind when making these concessions request to Government, the Director highlighted those in transportation and accommodation, especially within the interior locations.
“We want it to be possible for the sector to upgrade vehicles, particularly four by four vehicles, in the interior but also larger transit vehicles for larger groups, we want to see incentives for expanding existing lodging particularly in the interiors, refurbishing existing lodges as well and other recreational equipment,” he stated.
In providing some reassurance to granting these requests, Business Minister Hemraj Rajkumar, on behalf of his caretaker Government, underscored that the Ministry is working on processing some concessions application for its investors.
“One of the things we are requesting is for concessions that we can encourage the development of our tourist industry. Concessions for those persons who wish to bring in our country vehicles that would be used for tourism….we have received a few applications from persons which are being processed. The Ministry is supporting the development of tourism in our country and we will see as much as best to afford our investors the concessions they request,” Minister Rajkumar said.
Nevertheless, Guyana has been growing significantly in terms of its tourism industry. Data provided by the Bureau of Statistics revealed that the country’s economy earned some $62.6 billion in 2018 from the tourism industry.
Further, over the period of January to May, international arrivals have increased by 9.2 per cent and it is expected to reach 100 per cent growth by 2025, given the rapid and transformative nature of the sector. However, the GTA did not provide statistics the tourist arrival by country.
