After 33 years in the local tourism industry that he helped to build, Tony Thorne, an Australian-born Guyanese tour operator and managing director of Wilderness Explorers, would like to see more lodges opened across the hinterland to boost the growing demand for Guyana’s unique sustainable tourism products as visitor arrivals increase with more airlifts becoming available.
“Hotels are being built in Georgetown but the demand for lodges across rural areas is picking up. We need more people investing in lodges and accommodation in the interior. Many visitors come primarily to travel to the interior. American Airlines and British Airways coming into Guyana because of oil and gas, has created opportunities for tourism,” Thorne told Stabroek Weekend in a recent interview from Melbourne, Australia.