Having overcome many of its challenges, the Tourism Industry in Guyana is poised for a dramatic takeoff in 2024, Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh has indicated.
In his budget presentation earlier this week, the Finance Minister said the introduction of new services by United Airlines and American Airlines augur well for the Tourism Industry.
“United Airlines (UA) has announced the introduction of a service from Houston to Georgetown four times weekly to commence from April 2024. This provides yet another route into the US with improved connectivity to third cities in the US and beyond, and will ease the pressure and increase availability on existing Miami and New York services. In June 2024, American Airlines (AA) will expand its services with an additional daily flight between Miami and Georgetown, increasing capacity and providing additional options to travellers. The new services by UA and AA will add 137,268 new seats to the market in 2024, which will make a significant impact on seat availability, pricing, and commuter options and convenience,” Dr Singh said.
In 2023, the number of arrivals amounted to 319,056 visitors, surpassing the previous highest of 314,727 recorded in 2019, and amounting to a 10.7 percent increase relative to the level recorded in 2022.
Minister Singh told the House that the volume and cost of airlift into Guyana has historically been one of the key factors affecting the growth of the Tourism Sector, however, with improved connectivity and added airline routes, those issues are gradually being addressed.
It was pointed out that in 2023 alone, British Airways introduced a twice weekly service from London via St Lucia, which dramatically improved connectivity with destinations in the Caribbean and Europe; Canada Jetlines in partnership with Fly Allways improved access to the Canadian market by introducing a twice weekly service to Toronto via the Dominican Republic, and Suriname Airways introduced a Bridgetown-Georgetown-Paramaribo service.
He said in addition to the increase airlifts, hotel room capacity is also poised for a significant increase with the construction of several new hotels.
“I am happy to report that over 1,000 world class rooms will be added to the stock by the end of 2024. Importantly, many of these are from internationally recognised chains including: an Aiden Best Western in Georgetown, expected to open its doors by May and add 150 rooms; a Marriott Courtyard at Timehri, expected to open by August adding 150 rooms; a Four Points Sheraton at Providence poised for completion by December adding 172 new rooms; an AC Marriott at Ogle expected to open its doors by December adding 152 new rooms; [and] a Hyatt Place at Providence on East Bank Demerara, expected to open by December and adding 136 new rooms,” the Finance Minister said.
He said construction will continue on several other hotel properties, not only in Georgetown but also in West Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice, all of which will further increase the room stock of the industry upon their completion.
“Mr. Speaker, given the contribution of this sector to the growth of the economy over the last three years and in anticipation of future growth, we trained over 6,000 persons in the hospitality sector ranging from health, hygiene and sanitation programmes, of which, in 2023, over 2,000 tourism personnel in all Regions were trained in areas such as business and social media marketing, delivering quality service, leadership, and governance, among others. These were all aimed at improving and maintaining a high level of service delivery which will fundamentally address the skills gap facing the sector and therefore raise the quality of service offered.”
Further, he said Government remains committed towards addressing the ever-growing demand for services in the industry through the establishment of the Hospitality Institute. Millions have been allocated in the national budget every year since 2021 for the construction and establishment of a Hospitality Institute.
That project is yet to take off.
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