{"id":25497,"date":"2025-01-16T17:22:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T17:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/?p=25497"},"modified":"2025-01-16T17:22:43","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T17:22:43","slug":"guyana-set-to-become-global-tourism-powerhouse-minister-walrond-announces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/guyana-set-to-become-global-tourism-powerhouse-minister-walrond-announces\/","title":{"rendered":"Guyana Set to Become Global Tourism Powerhouse, Minister Walrond Announces"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n\n<p><em>By Josiah Williams | December 5, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Guyana is positioning itself as a global tourism powerhouse, with significant investments being made to develop and diversify the country&#8217;s tourism and hospitality sector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Minister of Tourism, Industry, and Commerce, Oneidge Walrond, made this announcement at the Ministry&#8217;s end-of-year press conference on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Minister Walrond highlighted that tourism is already the third-largest export earner in Guyana, following oil and natural resources, and expressed the government\u2019s commitment to making the country a major tourism hub, not just regionally but globally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She noted that while oil and gas will eventually decline, tourism will remain a key sector, with strategic investments already underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A critical part of this vision is the planned construction of additional hotels and tourism infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Currently, nearly ten hotels are under construction, with an expected addition of 1,800 hotel rooms by 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These developments will ensure Guyana can accommodate the growing number of visitors attracted by the country\u2019s natural beauty and diverse cultural experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, the government is actively partnering to host various conferences, sporting events, and forums to attract visitors and keep hotel rooms filled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The strategy, according to Walrond, is already showing positive results, with monthly events that continue to draw people to the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To further enhance the tourism and hospitality sectors, the government is also focused on local capacity building. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A new Tourism and Hospitality Institute is under construction, aimed at training individuals from various communities to work in the expanding sector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The institute is expected to be completed by January 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The government\u2019s long-term vision is to make tourism a driving force in Guyana&#8217;s economy for decades to come, with a focus on sustainability and local empowerment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Josiah Williams | December 5, 2024 Guyana is positioning itself as a global tourism powerhouse, with significant investments being made to develop and diversify the country&#8217;s tourism and hospitality&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":25477,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[366,363,350],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-development","category-national-transformation","category-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25497"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25500,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25497\/revisions\/25500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}