Government is taking seriously the lobbying efforts of the tourism industry for amendments to legislation to ensure that the country secures a bigger share of the regional market for wedding tourism, according to Roraima Airways Inc.
The company has been at the forefront of the lobby to amend the laws to allow visitors to the country to get married here having arrived in the country just a day or two earlier.
Information Roraima has received suggests that Acting Tourism Minister Irfaan Ali has been “making progress” with the proposed changes in the law though no time frame was given for a likely amendment, Roraima’s Marketing Manager and Co-ordinator for this year’s Fifth Wedding Expo Shamaine Davis said.
Davis told Stabroek Business that while the company was keen to see the laws change, it would, nonetheless, “continue to apply our efforts and energies” to the staging of this year’s Wedding Expo. She said she was aware that over the years the company’s Chief Executive Officer Captain Gerry Gouveia had been lobbying for what he felt was a facility that would take the tourism sector forward.
himself had told Stabroek Business several months ago that while he felt confident that Guyana could provide all the facilities for the hosting of visitor weddings, it was still “some distance behind other countries in the region” where legislation allowed for visitors to be married after a relatively short stay. “Better positioning Guy-ana to take advantage of wedding tourism requires some relatively minor changes to the law while the advantages to be derived from making those changes were potentially significant,” Gouveia told Stabroek Business more recently. He said wedding tourism was likely to bring overseas patronage for our hotels and guest houses, restaurants, curio shops and other facilities.
Speaking following the launch of this year’s Wedding Expo at the company’s Duke Lodge Hotel earlier this week Davis told Stabroek Business that more than 60 enterprises in various sectors had indicated a definite interest in participating in the event.
She said much of the preparatory work involved providing an opportunity for businesses in the wedding-related sector to showcase the products and services that they offer. “Apart from that we are currently pretty busy coordinating entrants for our ‘Race for the Altar’ feature; a competition that allows the winning entrants to enjoy having their wedding ceremony being held during the Wedding Expo in an expense-free event that will be witnessed by visitors to the Wedding Expo.”