Local airlines charter extra flights for festive season
Stabroek News
December 9, 2003
Local airlines have disclosed that all seats are booked and they have had to charter additional flights because of increased demand by persons to come to Guyana for the festive season, according to a release from the Government Information Agency (GINA).
Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Manzoor Nadir, in an interview with GINA said that the major airlines have stated that thousands of visitors are expected for the holidays.
The annual holiday visitors are between 10,000 and 12,000, but this year, the minister said, approximately 14,000 persons would be arriving.
For the first half of this year there has been a 17 per cent decline in the number of visitors and this has been attributed to the increase in violent crimes from 2002 into the first half of the year, the release stated.
October and November have recorded the highest number of visitors in the last decade.
Nadir disclosed that the increase is a reflection of more confidence in the security system and increased advertisement and marketing of Guyana internationally.
The release said from December 18, an estimated 1,000 persons are expected to arrive in the country on at least five daily flights from North America and other countries.
A number of activities have been lined up for the Christmas season including horse racing, the Main Big Lime and Rugby International Championships.