Tourism body pleased with CWC arrivals
-pegs March's numbers at nearly 19,000
Stabroek News
April 14, 2007
The Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) is not disappointed with the visitor turnout for the Cricket World Cup (CWC) as it says cricket was only one big event and the feedback received augurs well for the country's future.
GTA Executive Director Indira Anandjit said yesterday that she was pleased with the arrivals for March, which, according to her, totalled 18, 622. She said the "peak period" between March 18 and 31 saw some 10,500 persons coming here. "What is good about it too is that 8,009 …were first-time visitors," she added. She said the figures for after March 31 are still being compiled.
Noting the perception that there were not many tourists here because they were not seen in the streets, she said she believed the situation was that many of the tourists did not venture out a lot, but went only to select places for their own reasons.
In the light of reports that some sections of the business community did not see an increase in financial returns, Anandjit said she was not sure that people came to "shop" and when they did they went to select places particularly to get gifts and souvenirs.
"So basically I am not disappointed with the numbers, especially when we heard of the fall out of India and Pakistan… There were two groups of people, one of 70 and another of 50 persons from India for instance that were expected here but they decided to cancel their bookings. And so this may have inhibited the numbers that were expected to come," she said
The GTA head said reports from many tour operators indicated that they made several trips, particularly to Kaieteur Falls on a daily basis during the peak season.
All this, she says, augurs well for the Guyana tourism industry. "We were constantly reminded of our accommodation challenges but now we have accommodation and we cannot be faulted for that; this is no longer our problem," Anandjit said.
"Our system is now geared, but while we may have some logistics problems, we could still forge ahead and do more now that accommodation is no longer an issue."
The Immigration Depart-ment on Tuesday reported that more than 16,000 persons arrived in Guyana through the Single Domestic Space during the Cricket World Cup period from March 28 to April 9.
The Government Informa-tion Agency (GINA) quoted Deputy Chief Immigration Officer George Vyphuis as saying, "a lot of visitors were present in the country from late February to last weekend with the majority coming through the Single Domestic Space."
GINA said too that with the elimination of favourites India and Pakistan in the preliminary rounds, host countries suffered low visitor arrivals. However, during February and March, visitor arrivals in Guyana more than doubled the figure recorded during the CWC period.
"Our figures show that there were over 40,000 visitors that came through both the international and regional flights from February 1 to March month end," the deputy chief immigration officer had told GINA.
The GINA release said the Immigration Department was commended for ensuring that there was hassle free movement of persons travelling in and out of Guyana during the CWC period.
"We had promised that everything would run smoothly and it did. Our immigration officers were commended for the courteous and efficient way that they carried out their duties and I just want to assure that we will continue to be professional," Vyphuis was also quoted as saying. (Heppilena Ferguson)