Having drawn around 650 participants, the curtains came down on the inaugural Guyana International Petroleum Business Summit and Exhibition (GIPEX) on Friday with organisers hailing networking opportunities, possible investments and the tourism boost.
“The one that has been mentioned the least is what this event has done for the tourism industry and the services sector in Guyana, because inasmuch as it does well for the networking of the oil and gas industry, it had a direct impact on tourism in the economy,” Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest), Owen Verwey, told a press conference at the close at the Marriott Hotel.
Feedback so far from local hotels in George-town, he said, was that they saw occupancy increase dramatically while he pointed to the traffic where cabdrivers also spoke of an increase.