Promoting Caribbean tourism despite recent natural disasters

A collaborative effort between tour operators from Guyana and Trinidad is seeking to attract tourists to the Caribbean region despite the recent natural disasters.

A team from Los Exploradores of Trinidad and Tobago is in Guyana working alongside Rainforest Tours to promote the two destinations as eco-tourist attractions.

Frank Singh, Managing Director of Rainforest Tours, explained the rationale for the collaboration. “We’re actually trying to see how the two companies can work together it’s in the interest of eco-tourism they are actually trying to see the product we have for the overland trip to Kaieteur; we’re going to Kaieteur tomorrow. We have to have a look at it and in the future now we will be sending people to Guyana to do hikes into Kaieteur and vice versa.”

The team is led by Dominic Guevara and his wife Elizabeth who will spend the next few days in Guyana taking a firsthand look at prospects here. They are also hoping to attract more tourists for their next visit. “Most of the islands up in the Caribbean Grenada Dominica…presently those places are being destroyed…so we want to keep the tourists here in the region,” he said.

Dominic Guevara speaking with the Department of Public Information revealed that he always wanted to experience a hike to the Kaieteur Falls. He opined that huge benefits will come from such a collaboration.

Meanwhile, Adrian Boodan, a journalist from the Trinidad Guardian will be accompanying the team on their trip. He advised that countries like Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago need to promote themselves in the tourism markets of Japan, Europe, and North America.

“If this hurricane caused tourists to get away from this region, saying look we don’t want to come here again. Hurricane Irma, buildings mash-up, we can’t live like that again. We can’t be a tourist in these places. This is because they’re accustomed to going to one group of islands and the Caribbean has so much more. It’s a wider destination. We have Guyana, although Guyana does not have beaches, it is the richest source of eco-tourism in the entire region and I believe it is under-marketed.”