GTA hoping for surge in tourism activity this Christmas

THE Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) is optimistic that the tourism industry will benefit during the upcoming Christmas season, given the reopening of the country’s airports last month.

Its director, Carla James believes that many persons are now inclined to travel after being unable to do so because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
The deadly virus has affected many industries, including air travel. It is estimated that travel by air has shrunk between 59 and 62 per cent since the advent of the virus.
James said that this decline has resulted in an estimated loss of some $104B in global business revenue in 2020.
Many local tourism and hospitality businesses have been affected financially since the COVID-19 pandemic began. However, since the reopening of the airports, these business have been slowly returning to some form of normalcy.

This trend, the GTA Director believes, will continue well into the Christmas season, as more persons, including Guyanese living abroad, would have the opportunity to travel.

“Moving into the Christmas season that’s soon approaching, we anticipate that there is going to be an increase in travel from the domestic and diaspora markets. There are many people who want to go out and explore after being confined to their homes for quite a number of months,” she stated.

She reminded that during the Christmas season, persons enjoy spending time with their families, and this can potentially see many overseas-based Guyanese returning home to spend quality time with their loved ones.

Since the reopening of the airports on October 12, 2020, over 5000 persons have arrived in the country. In light of these arrivals, the government has put several strict COVID-19 guidelines in place at the main ports of entry.

These include COVID-19 testing at the Cheddi Jagan and the Eugene F. Correia International Airports. Persons who have a PCR test older than 72 hours prior to arrival at the airport are required to take the test.

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony recently disclosed that so far, 11 arriving passengers have tested positive for the virus

He assured the public that the government is taking all precautions to ensure that no passengers comes into the country with the virus.

“We keep monitoring once we detect a positive person; we have to do contact tracing for all persons who these passengers would have been in contact with…on their flight coming. Where they’ve been sitting and the passengers who sat around them would have to be informed and so we’re able to do that as well,” he explained.