Recently appointed Minister of Business with responsibility for Tourism, Haimraj Ramkumar is calling on Guyanese to be mindful of their social media activities warning that negative posts have a serious impact on the tourism industry.
“We must be positive when we are marketing our country,” he said.
“We must be careful of the things that we place on social media so that we don’t have a negative impact [on] our country and the potential of our tourism industry.”
The Minister was speaking at a welcome reception held in his honour by the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) at Cara Lodge, Quamina Street, Georgetown on Friday last.
The Minister said some posts on Facebook and other social media sites discourage persons from visiting Guyana.
The Minister said he met with persons in the diaspora who raised concerns about their safety but he believes that many issues are being exaggerated on social media.
Meanwhile, President of THAG, Mitra Ramkumar also delivered remarks at the event and used the opportunity to call for a decrease in the taxes that he said is affecting the tourism industry.
According to the THAG President, there has been an increasing number of visitors to Guyana, which he credited to the expanding oil and gas industry.
“We appeal for this industry to be to be granted the same concessions as every other export industry. So it means it’s either zero tax or a reduced minimum rate of tax,” he said to loud applause from stakeholders in attendance.
Director of Manufacturing and Marketing within the Ministry of Business, Dominic Gaskin and Minister of Public Telecommunications Catherine Hughes were also in attendance at the event.
