International tourists wanting to visit Guyana for a relaxing trip or an adventure can do so with just a few clicks on a new global Guyanese booking engine – Kaietour.com.
Created by Salaudeen Nausrudeen – a Florida-based Guyanese Technology Entrepreneur – Kaietour, paying homage to Guyana’s breathtaking Kaieteur Falls, was launched on Friday at the Herdsmanston Lodge.
The creator explained that the booking application can be found via Apple Store or Google Play Store. He said it took his team 18 months to create it with some G$60 million invested.
Kaietour.com helps travellers to easily search, find, book and pay for travel to Guyana or anywhere else in the world with a wide selection of flights, hotels, car rentals, vacation packages, tour packages and even taxi services.
It is also an easy and affordable way for Guyanese tour operators, hotels, resorts, local airlines, car rental companies and taxis to list their inventory to attract global tourists, of which the Diaspora is a significant segment.
With the advancement of technology, tourists now prefer to have the power of options and flexibility right at their fingertips. And many local tourism operators in Guyana suffer “millions in losses” because their products are not readily available online.
“Kaietour.com was developed because Guyana’s tourism operators are at a disadvantage. Guyana’s rich and unique tourism inventory is not readily available for booking and purchasing online and therefore, invisible to global tourists, ultimately resulting in no bookings”, he pointed out.
“If you’re in tourism and you’re not online or listed on a booking engine like Kaietour.com, then you’re not open for business.”
Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Oneidge Walrond lauded the initiative and explained that it has “filled a long-needed gap” in Guyana’s tourism industry and called on tourism operators to make full use of it.
And while the platform seeks to put a spotlight on tourism destinations, Minister Oneidge reminded that the government is also doing its part to continuously improve the standard of service offered, through investments, training and launching new tour packages within regions.
Importantly too, Foreign Secretary, Robert Persaud noted that the platform would provide the support network to bridge the gap between Guyana and the diaspora.
He noted that as the economy expands and grows, the Kaietour platform is ideal to plan for travel to Guyana, with convenient access to Guyana’s tourism product.
The platform offers a complete booking experience, including full pre-payment, negating the need for any cash transactions by travelers; while in Guyana.
And further, the creator of Kaietour.com also highlighted his plans to establish its global call center in Guyana, which will employ over 50 Customer Service Agents and operational staff.
Kaietour.com extensive global inventory includes:
l ·900+ airlines worldwide
l ·Flights from and to 185+ countries
l ·Connection to 500,000 hotels worldwide
l ·Hotels in more than 20,100 cities
l ·Largest source of deeply discounted rates
l ·18+ car rental brands
l ·Car Rentals in 160+ countries
