Two months into the Donald Ramotar presidency, the Govern-ment of Guyana is yet to name a replacement for Manniram Prashad as Tourism Minister though President Donald Ramotar has sought to provide assurances that his government remains committed to the growth of the sector.
Speaking last Saturday at the Annual Awards Ceremony hosted by the Tourism and Hospitality of Guyana (THAG) President Ramotar said that his government intends to “strongly support” the tourism sector adding that he anticipated “a rush” of investors to the sector in the years ahead.
The delay in naming a new Minister of Tourism had re-fuelled earlier speculation, which had begun under the Jagdeo administration that government was planning to abolish the tourism ministerial portfolio and place complete responsibility for the sector under a strengthened Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA).
Since naming his Cabinet shortly after being sworn in on December 3, President Ramotar has not named a Minister of Tourism, assigning Housing Minister Irfaan Ally to act in the position.
While last Saturday’s speech by President Ramotar provided no hint as to whether or when the government will name a Minister of Tourism, a release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) quoted the President as saying that government intended to step up to the challenge of coordinating with other stakeholders to resolve impediments that pose a threat to the development of a thriving tourism sector. Of particular significance in the President’s address was the commitment he gave that “government will inject the needed finances to clean up the city” given what has long been a national concern that the garbage situation poses a threat to the promotion of the country’s tourism sector.
For several years the George-town City Council has come under sustained official and public pressure to rescue the city from what is generally believed to be a considerable and permanent decline. According to the GINA statement, the President alluded to the need to find “a permanent solution… to ensure that the city maintains a standard.”
In January, THAG President Paul Stephenson met President Ramotar to discuss the tourism sector, after which he said that the President appeared to understand where the tourism sector needs to go. The THAG President has been pushing for a higher profile for the tourism industry, which he said was justified given its contribution to the country’s economy. Additionally, Stephenson is calling for the recruitment of overseas marketing specialists to help build local capacity in the international promotion of Guyana’s tourism product.
Local tour operators have, over the years, been critical of what they say has been the insufficient contribution by government to the growth of the local tourism sector, pointing out that the responsibility for investing in the external marketing of the tourism product was the government’s rather than the sector’s.
Earlier this month, the World Tourism Organization issued a statement in which it called on governments to do more to enable travel facilitation an area in which it said, “there is still much room for progress.” The WTO statement called on governments “to make the most of information and communication technologies in improving visa application and processing formalities as well as the timings of visa issuance, and to analyze the possible impact of travel facilitation in increasing their tourism economies.”
Last year, global tourist arrivals grew by 4.4 per cent to a total of 980 million, up from 938 million in the previous year, though, according to the WTO, the Caribbean only maintained its growth rate for tourist arrivals recorded in the previous year.
Tourist arrivals in the Caribbean, including Guyana, are heavily dependent on visitors from the United States and figures provided by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) indicate that that up to the third quarter of last year the region had maintained growth in tourist arrivals despite ongoing uncertainty regarding the state of the US economy.
