| 2012 a very good year for tourism |  |  |  |
| Written by Savitri Laikram |
| Sunday, 06 January 2013 21:44 |
OFFICIALS of the Tourism Ministry have disclosed that last year was a very good one for tourism and that the “Rediscover Home” campaign was a significant contributor to this success.
 From left: Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) Mr. Indranauth Haralsingh, Minister of Tourism (ag) Irfaan Ali and the CEO of the Small Business Bureau Mr. Derrick Cummings at the media briefing.( Sonell Nelson photo) Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) Mr. Indranauth Haralsingh said that these tactics and strategy are put forth by the Ministry in an effort to boost tourist arrivals, increase occupancy and to create and sustain a demand for one of the largest tourism campaign “Destination Guyana.” It is our belief in the sector that 2012 provided an excellent platform through which we can continue its expansion in 2013. Acting Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Irfaan Ali stated that everyone would have recalled that in 2012 the Ministry campaigned under the “Rediscover Home” campaign, and as a result of the success of that campaign, the ministry will continue under the Rediscover Home campaign this year, however, the “fly line” “Celebrate Your Life- Celebrate Your Home” will be added, so it will be known as “Rediscover home, Celebrate Your Life, Celebrate Your Home”. He also pointed out that the Rediscover Home campaign is such a successful model, it has resulted in Trinidad starting the year in the Diaspora, by advertising extensively to their Diaspora market and the Ministry will continue to press that market, as it has tremendous potential for Guyana. “It is our belief in the sector that 2012 provided an excellent platform through which we can continue its expansion in 2013,” Ali assured Ali noted that year 2012 saw an average of 17.2 percent in arrivals, over that of the previous year because at the end of November 2012, the arrivals added up to approximately 161,000, which compared to 2011 around the very same period of time, there were just 137,000 arrivals to Guyana. He further stated that he also appreciates that this increase came at a time when there were tremendous difficulties in the aviation capacity, as early 2012 saw the exit of “RedJet Airlines” and the third quarter of 2012 saw the exit of “EZJet Airlines” and that would’ve posed a lot of challenges for the tourism sector. The minister added that the objective of the Ministry this year is to sustain arrivals to ensure that occupancy in hotels go up as well as to create local demand, be it a local demand for arts and crafts, or food, Noting that during the holiday season, it was well noticed that most of the hotels and restaurants as well as the entertainment facilities were packed because of the number of visitors there was in Guyana. “Our primary focus would be to sustain our arrival rates, to increase occupancy and create local demand for our products “he said. Ali pointed out that one of these strategies is to also target films, documentaries and travel writers, as this is an important aspect of tourism focus in ensuring that the Guyana brand gets out to the widest market, to the traveling market and to the most influential operators and market potentials, it is important to have filmmakers, travel writers and documentary groups coming into Guyana on trips to do a lot of publicising for the country as brand Guyana gets out there. He further stated, the Ministry is hoping to have the “Adventure Life” television programme crew visit in the first quarter of 2013, as they would assist in selling brand Guyana, seeing that programme has an expansive viewership. He noted that the Discovery Channel and Raw TV have already been in the country and they had a series called “Gold Rush- the Jungle”, pointing out that show was labelled as one of the most watched Friday night programmes, seeing that it had reached more than four million households. As a result of the success of this programme, Discovery Channel and Raw TV are looking to do a second edition of “Gold Rush-The Jungle” and that again would provide a lot of publicity for the country. He further stated that History Channel was also here and they produced the “Bamazon” reality TV series, which is currently being featured on the History Channel on Sunday nights, this lead to a very large target group, and is hoping that “Bamazon” would return within the first quarter of the year to continue another episode for 2013. Also, he stated that the BBC plans to produce quite a number of featured on Guyana and they will also be arriving again in the first quarter of the year. Prior to this, BBC has rated Guyana as one of the 50 destinations to visit in a lifetime and they are going to return in an effort to further promote Guyana. “These are some of the international press we are working on the ensure that Brand Guyana gets out there,” Ali Pointed out. |
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