Guyana’s Travel Industry Could Get Leg Up from Ties with Northern Brazil

A return visit to the Brazilian state of Roraima by a sizeable Guyanese business delegation following last week’s ground-breaking encounter with a multi-sectoral Brazilian business team in Georgetown is likely before the end of 2010, according to president of the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana Paul Stephenson.

The return visit is expected to consolidate what Stephenson told Stabroek Business was “a highly significant and highly successful” trip here by more than 60 representatives of business enterprises from the northern Brazilian state of Roraima.

According to Stephenson more than 100 Guyanese businesses have already indicated an interest in making the envisaged overland return journey to Brazil.

Stephenson, a hotelier with business interests in both Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, who recently assumed the presidency of THAG, told Stabroek Business that he believes that the level of enthusiasm being demonstrated by the Brazilian entrepreneurs to do business with Guyana is matched by the eagerness of the Guyanese business community to take advantage of the opportunity afforded by the opening of the Takutu bridge and the prospects of the building of an international highway between the two countries.
Stephenson, who chaired the tourism and hospitality encounter during last week’s business forum said that the keenness of the Brazilians to do business with the tourism and hospitality sector here could eventually position Guyana as one of the leading players in the tourism industry in the Caribbean.

In an exclusive interview with Stabroek Business during which he outlined some outcomes of the recent Guyana-Brazil business encounter, Stephenson said that meetings between local and Brazilian representatives of the various sub-sectors in the tourism and hospitality sector had realized at least six specific agreements.

He said that while he was not in a position to comment on either the nature or the details of the agreements, his own involvement as facilitator of the exchange between local and Brazilian tourism and hospitality enterprises had persuaded him of the seriousness with which both sides have taken the encounter.

THAG, meanwhile, is positioning itself to work with state agencies associated with enhancing business relations with Brazil, as well as with private sector entities interested in exploring tourism and hospitality ties with Brazil.

THAG is also gearing itself to provide support for local small businesses through various umbrella organizations, which might potentially benefit from opportunities afforded by the opening up of business opportunities with Brazil.