The Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) is currently assessing a number of potential sites and products in order to further develop the country’s growing potential as a tourism destination. It also plans to launch additional products and experiences this year by interlinking various administrative regions.
According to GTA Senior Product Development Officer Clyde Edwards, the new initiative is known as circuit development, which he said helps in further promoting tourism sites once they are interlinked. He explained that a tour of North Rupununi in Region Nine might start at Iwokrama, “then you stop at Atta Lodge and you go to Surama then to Rock View and Karinambo, Caiman House to Waikin Ranch, Manari Ranch and you end in Lethem. So, in that region, they have developed different experiences for their guests at different locations. … That is a kind of circuit we are hoping to develop in Moruca sub-district, because what we found out is that when you have all these different experiences at different locations it contributes more to the development of each destination.”
Edwards said regions One and Two are fixed on the organisation’s agenda this year. He said tours will start from Adele’s Resort in the Pomeroon River in Region Two and will follow into Santa Rosa in Region One, where tourists will experience the village’s recently commissioned biking and canoeing experiences and then into Warapoka for bird watching of the harpy eagles and their nests.
Additionally, as it relates to new products, the officer said, “So currently I am working with Toka village, that is an Amerindian village in Region Nine which is located in North Rupununi, this package will entail a pottery tour and this is where you will go to have a pottery-making experience. … A tour guide is going to take you to a spot where you’ll be able to take the clay from the ground and they will take you through the process of making the clay pots. Next week we will be taking the pottery trainer to Toka village to teach persons how to make a variety of pottery products and this year we are hoping to launch that experience.”
He added that the GTA will also be working with Shell Beach to bring it back to some form of attractiveness to tourists since a section of the beach has been eroded.
In addition, Edwards revealed, “In Port Kaituma there is a tour operator that is interested in developing Jonestown as a tourism destination and we have plans to go there with the tour operator… to assess the area.”
He explained that in order to develop a destination, especially the Amerindian villages, they first have to go through the legal process of having discussions with the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs which they will do in Jonestown’s case and seek funds from the ministry, since the GTA does not fund any project which is governed under a specific ministry.
“After we have a meeting with the village council and the community members, we then go to what we call site assessment or product assessment, so this is where the officers will be in the field to see if they have any potential or attractions in the area,” he explained. “We also do assessment of the guest houses or if there is any accommodation established there.”
GTA has recently work-ed with the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) and the French Government to help develop villages in Region One such as Warapoka as a new tourist destination, as well as Kwebanna and Santa Rosa where new products were commissioned as of last week. (Aviso Paul)
