The Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce and the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) recently hosted two representatives from ‘Adventure Life’ on a Media Familiarisation (Fam) Trip, with the hope that Guyana will be featured at upcoming American Travel Shows.
This Fam trip forms part of GTA’s strategy to promote and brand the destination and to intensify awareness efforts in key target markets, a release from GTA said.
According to the release, ‘Adventure Life’ is an adventure travel company that provides custom and small group tours in Latin America and small-ship cruises throughout the world. They offer over 100 different itineraries in South America and Central America, and hundreds of small-ship cruises to less conventional destinations, such as Africa, the Arctic, Antarctica and Alaska.
Their focus is nature, cultural, and active travel and they apply ecotourism principles to their tour and cruise programmes. Since their founding in 1999, over 24,000 clients have travelled with the company.
The two representatives, Julia Dimon and Matthew Rutherford, who have come to Guyana for the first time, hope to capture the essence of the destination and to connect with the people, GTA said.
Dimon, a travel writer and TV travel host has visited more than 80 countries, and she will speak of her experiences in Guyana when she appears on the New York Times Travel Show, and LA Times Travel Show, in January and February. She has also secured a commitment from Outside TV (an extension of Outside Magazine) and the Travel Channel to feature Guyana and also a promise of a write up of the destination in an MSNBC article, GTA said.
Welcoming the duo, the Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) Indranauth Haralsingh expounded on the benefits of such exposure and pointed to the magnitude of the destination awareness that will be generated. “We hope this is the beginning of an ongoing relationship where other writers can come to Guyana, as we work in partnership with other operators. We can get great exposure and leverage from these publications and platforms.
As part of our Communication and PR Strategy we will continue to embrace and support such activities. If we want maximum exposure, we have to be presented on the international scene,” he stated.
According to Haralsingh, this venture was made possible through collaboration between the GTA and Wilderness Explorers, who will serve as the official Tour Guide of the visitors while they are in Guyana and with support from the management of Iwokrama, Surama and Rewa.
“For me it seems like an emerging destination, it seems as though you are interested in promoting eco tourism and that is my main interest. I think the pristine environment is the main attraction. I would love to see a jaguar, that would be one of my highlights,” Dimon was quoted as saying.
