…Tourism Minister anticipates greater success this yearMinister of Tourism, Manniram Prashad, has said that visitor arrivals to Guyana declined in 2008 by just under five percent.He noted that while some Caribbean countries’ decline was in some cases more than 20 percent, Guyana’s decline in tourism has been minimal because of the unique product.The Minister added that there has not been any significant growth in the hotel industry for the first quarter of this year. However,cheap jerseys from china, he added, they did fairly well because of cricket as during March most of the hotels were fully booked.“While we have not seen a significant growth in the first quarter,Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping, there has not been a decline. We have been able to maintain our market share,Wholesale Jerseys Online,” Minister Prashad added.According to him, even though he wanted an increase and it was not achieved, the good thing is that in a crisis, the likes of which is currently being faced worldwide when people have been forced to close down and there is huge unemployment, that has not happened in the tourism sector in Guyana.“…While we admit there has been a small decline in arrivals, there is no decline in employment or in terms of tourism because we are now picking up on our business in terms of eco-tourism and adventure tourism…We’ve been monitoring the situation carefully to see how we can improve on what we have.”Minister Prashad pointed out that there is need for more training in terms of hotel management.On a positive note, Minister Prashad said that there is an investor right now who wants to build a hotel in Bartica.And the new owner of Buddy’s International Hotel will be opening a casino very shortly. He added that the hotel has already got its license work started. At present the owner is undertaking renovation.Another good sign, he added, is the opening of the New Thriving Restaurant on Main Street, which could possibly be one of the best Chinese restaurants in the Caribbean for ambiance and size.He opined that tourism is taking off in Guyana and that he anticipates that 2009 will be a great year for tourism.According to Minister Prashad, most of the Caribbean countries now have to blend their product.For instance, he added, his Ministry is currently in discussions with Barbados now to offer a joint package whereby visitors will spend half of their vacation there and the other half here in Guyana.“They want to offer something new and unique because all of these Caribbean countries are offering the same thing so Barbados is breaking away to offer a mixture of sun and adventure tourism so we are having discussions with them.” He said that one of the country’s main tour operators, Wilderness Explorers,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, which is the biggest and most established tour operators in Guyana and one of the best in the Caribbean in terms of adventure tourism, has reported that 2008 was his best year ever in the tourism business and that he had a significant increase.“The kind of tourism that we are developing is taking off…2009 looks good for us.”He noted that there are several tours that will be coming, with the first being a major one coming from the UK and Germany on April 18.According to him,Cheap Jerseys Wholesale, many more cruise ships like the one that was here last Saturday will also be coming to Guyana to target adventure tourism.“I think despite what is happening in the world,Cheap NFL Shop, the future of tourism looks great in Guyana because of our unique kind of tourism. We are competing with Costa Rica and Belize and we are on the upswing now with attracting tourists.”Minister Prashad said that for the first quarter of this year, there has not been any significant decline in arrivals as compared to last year but it’s too early to predict anything. “We’ll have to monitor the situation carefully and see how all our marketing strategies have done over the last couple of years to attract more tourists. But I feel that this year will be a very good year for us.” (Nadia Guyadeen)