Mindful, perhaps, of what is generally regarded as the mainstream assignment to her portfolio, Guyana’s Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Oneidge-Walrond asserted earlier this week that that the inauguration of a twice weekly Caribbean Airlines flight between Georgetown and Paramaribo will serve to widen Guyana’s tourism reach and otherwise increase travel options. That said, the Minister will doubtlessly be aware of the fact that there is a more immediate significance to the recently announced twice weekly flights between Eugene F. Correia International Airport and Suriname’s Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport.
The two CARICOM member states are basking in the glare of global attention arising out of world class oil and gas breakthroughs. Setting aside the role that Caribbean Airlines will play in what is certain to be a lucrative capital-to-capital route for the carrier it is almost certain to be rarely ever lacking in extra-regional traffic for whoever is seeking to visit both capitals in quick succession. Regional observers will doubtlessly contend that a regular and reliable air travel service between the two countries was long in the making. At the same time, they may contend, as well, that the service has now materialized with greater haste than might have been anticipated and that it is the role that the two countries now play as global attention-getters that has triggered the move by Caribbean Airlines to fill what had become one of the region’s most potentially lucrative airline routes.
