Georgetown: The Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce and the Guyana Tourism Authority are celebrating its 19th year of observing Tourism Awareness Month (TAM), in November, and have executed a series educational and entertaining activities over the past two weeks.
The month long calendar of activities, rolled out under the theme ‘Communication and Information Sharing for Tourism Development’ kicked off with the grand launch on October 31st when all of the sector players gathered to usher in this period that will see programmes and projects being facilitated to highlight the growing importance and significance of tourism in our country.
Even as the dust settled on the auspicious opening, the Bartender Cocktail Competition did not fail to wow spectators and participants gathered at Hotel Tower on November 8th; the emerging winners were Julian Walton representing Spice Garden, who captured first prize of a trophy donated by Wilderness Explorers and a trip to Caribbean Destination compliments of Demerara Distillers Limited, with his cocktails “Flora and Fauna and Kiss the Rainbow”. While second place was awarded to Devon Ramlakhan from Edge with his cocktails “By the Creek and Green House Effect” his trophy was donated by Roraima Group of Companies and a refrigerator compliments of Courts Guyana Limited and third prize of a trophy donated by Herdmandston Lodge and a citizen wrist watch compliments of Kings Jewelry World went to Anil Singh of Gravity Bar with his cocktails “Tropical Fusion and Zero Gravity”.
While residents in and around the city were able to enjoy this, hundreds of Guyanese and overseas visitors travelled to the little island of Leguan, in the Essequibo River, for the first ever, Leguan Night and Cultural Pageant.
Food, drinks and rich cultural performances filled the Greens Park Ground on the evening of November 9th , as His Excellency, President Donald Ramotar and Tourism Minister, Irfaan Ali were present to celebrate with the island community and to welcome the first crowned Miss Leguan , Indranie Roopatie as she begins her reign.
Guyana also participated in the World Travel Market (WTM) in London and was represented by the GTA, Wilderness Explorers, Dagron Tours , Rupununi Trails and Dadanawa ; this event featured influential figures in and around the travel industry who offered the latest insights, trends and invaluable knowledge to all who visited World Travel Market 2013; the event took place from 4th- 7th November 2013 and is one of the leading global travel and trade shows.
Though there was much fanfare and celebrations during several of the planned activities, the essence of the chosen theme of the month remain constant, and information sharing was kept paramount throughout; this was reinforced as the GTA will be sharing a series of documentaries on Channel 28, every Sunday in November from 11am to 12 noon and partnered with the National Library on November 11th -13th to show another series of documentaries to close to 120 persons; a book presentation is also planned for the National Library and the University of Guyana library.
The Ministry of Tourism and the Guyana Tourism Authority is committed to fostering the development of tourism in Guyana, programmes have been developed aimed at increasing, at all levels of society, awareness of the broad range of tourism benefits, and of the contribution that Guyanese can make to the development of the industry and also by developing and instituting training programs and certification for all skill levels in all sectors of the tourism industry.
In keeping with this aim, the GTA facilitated several sessions of training from November 10th through 12th at Takatu Crossing and Moleson Creek for Managers, Customs, Immigration, Police and Narcotics, Security, Canteen Attendants and some new staff at the GRA Lethem Branch, a total of 43 persons were trained collectively in both areas; areas covered included Customer Service and essential work ethics and traits.
One of the other highlights of the month is the execution of the South Road Enhancement Project which will be implemented this weekend, in partnership with City Hall , the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development , Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, United States Embassy Guyana-Shine Guyana Project and the Progressive Youth Organisation.
The project is part of a wider initiative to enhance/beautify some of the physical infrastructure and surroundings within the Capital City, and includes weeding, cleaning and planting of flowering plants at several locations within the vicinity of South Road and Croal Street; it will be undertaken over a three (3) days period commencing on Friday, November 14th with the weeding of parapets and trimming of trees, followed by a clean-up and painting exercise on Saturday, November 16th and concluding with a planting exercise on Sunday, November 17th.
Over the next two weeks, the GTA and sector partners will be staging even more exciting and informative events which include the highly anticipated Tourism Awards Ceremony, Restaurant Week, Crisis Communication Workshop, Bird Watching, Tourism Open Day, the South Rupununi Safari and many more.
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