Georgetown: Minister of Tourism Catherine Hughes said that the government is pursuing advertising Guyana in cruise line magazines. She said this is one way of showing this South American nation as a viable tourism destination.
She told the Government Information Agency (GINA) that direct communication with several cruise lines is being made which is intended to secure a spot on their itinerary. Promotion of Guyanese working alongside cruise lines will be done through social media, Minister Hughes noted.
The minister told GINA of this development prior to boarding the cruise ship Minerva of the cruise line ‘Swan Hellenic’ which docked at the Guyana National Shipping Corporation’s Wharf, Georgetown, today.
Once the 2016 Budget allocation for the tourism sector is finalised, funding will be streamed into an international marketing programme. Here, deliverables will be specifically packaged for the target market. In order to promote more tourism, packaging of Guyana will have to be done to cater for all the needs of potential visitors. This includes materialising a plan whereby animals can be shown, traditional foods tasted, and cultures exchanged.
The vessel Minerva is 135 meters long and weighs about 13,000 tonnes. It brought 181 passengers. The ship’s Captain Neil Broomhall indicated that while this part of the world is not always on the map, returning to Guyana as a tourist destination will definitely occur.
The last visit of Minerva in Guyana was in March, 2014 for threedays. The vessel sails off at 20:30 hours today to Grenada as its next destination.
Passengers were taken on tours around Georgetown and other areas of interest as time permitted. Wynne Macgregor, a passenger indicated she would like to “have a look around, see what the city has to offer.” The visitor was interested in seeing the Botanical Gardens and the seawalls.
The Swan Hellenic cruise line has been in business for over 60 years. Facilitating beauty salon, pools and a library, which has approximately 50,000 volumes in fiction and non- fiction, Minerva caters for all its passengers’ needs.
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