Guyana’s President Challenges Caribbean Tourism to Think Bigger

The Caribbean has spent decades selling the same promise of sun, sand and warm hospitality. At a regional tourism gathering in Georgetown, Guyana, one of the region’s most outspoken leaders asked whether that promise is still enough. Speaking at the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s State of the Tourism Industry Conference (SOTIC) 2026, Guyana’s President, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, told ministers, investors and industry executives that the future of Caribbean tourism will go to those who invest in scale, connectivity and storytelling. He said he had put aside his structured remarks because the moment demanded a more candid conversation.

Why This Speech Matters

SOTIC is the CTO’s principal annual forum. It brings together tourism ministers, directors of tourism, private-sector executives, academics, media and young professionals. This year’s edition ran October 5–9 under the theme “Tourism Futures: Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive.” It is also the first time Guyana has hosted the event.

The setting carries weight. Guyana is better known to the world for offshore oil than for tourism, yet its visitor numbers are climbing. Tourism Minister Susan Rodrigues said earlier this year that the country recorded more than 450,000 arrivals in 2025, its highest ever, with growth continuing into 2026.

Ali’s message was that the rest of the region cannot afford to coast on that kind of momentum.

“Complacency” and the Lesson of West Indies Cricket

The president’s central warning was complacency. The region, he said, is blessed with a natural product that can lull stakeholders into doing too little.

He used an analogy any Caribbean audience would feel. West Indies cricket once dominated the world and drove a global market on natural talent. Today, he said, the team struggles to find a sponsor. Beautiful beaches, rainforests and reefs are valuable assets, he argued, but they lose value if they are not retooled, repositioned and reinvested in.

Build for Resilience from Day One

Ali spent considerable time on disaster preparedness, an issue that resonates across a hurricane-prone region. He pointed to Jamaica’s recent natural disaster and asked what contingency plans were in place for businesses.

His proposal was practical. Investment agreements for tourism projects, he said, should include a contingency clause negotiated up front, so that recovery provisions activate automatically when disaster strikes rather than being hammered out in the middle of a crisis. He also said disaster preparedness is a business responsibility as well as a government one, and urged the CTO to lead development of a regional mechanism for preparedness and business continuity.

He tied this to resilience financing, insurance and pre-arranged credit, and to diversifying supply chains. Hotels and resorts, he said, should ask where their food comes from and how they can bring local farmers into the system. He floated the idea of partnering with farmers in Belize and positioning the Caribbean as a custodian of the world’s finest coconut water, or risk visitors traveling elsewhere for it.

The industry’s recovery from COVID-19 gave him some grounds for optimism. Many feared a decade-long rebound, he noted, but by 2024 international tourism had recovered to almost pre-pandemic levels.

The Middle East Playbook

The most striking section of the speech compared the Caribbean to the Gulf. A decade ago, Ali said, few would have associated the Middle East with tourism. Today it treats the sector as a pillar of diversification from oil.

He said the Gulf is investing in luxury resorts, major sporting events, concerts, theme parks, heritage and culture. He claimed its access to large labor markets lets it offer luxury at a lower price point than Caribbean operators can. By his account, Saudi Arabia alone is aiming to add 500,000 hotel rooms by 2030. He added that the region’s athletes and entertainers are increasingly basing themselves there.

Ali was frank that the Caribbean cannot match this spending. His answer was collaboration. Individual islands cannot chase mega-events alone, he said, but the region could collectively choose ten events to bring here by 2035 and build the infrastructure to host them. He also urged CTO members to consider partnerships with Middle Eastern investors.

He raised a pointed question about theme parks: why has Disney not expanded into a region so close to its home market? He suggested Guyana could host a world-class tropical forest night safari, if investors and governments commit land and scale. Investors, he said, have been “too laidback.”

Latin America: The Market Next Door

Ali argued that the region has underplayed Latin America and South America. He said the Caribbean failed to take the bold step of making Spanish compulsory, and called that a missed opportunity.

Meanwhile, he said, competitors are moving. He cited:

• The Dominican Republic’s Southwest Corridor development, with beach and golf clubs. He said the DR accounted for 64% of all new rooms in Latin America.
• A $2.1 billion Brazilian investment plan over three years, concentrated on luxury development.
• Mexico’s roughly $30 billion railway project.

“The infrastructure tells you a story,” he said. His point was that these investments signal where traveler flows are heading. He also noted that Cuba and Haiti have labor supply that could change regional competition as conditions normalize.

He acknowledged that regional occupancy of around 65% looks healthy, but said investment patterns tell a different story.

Guyana’s Own Story

Ali presented Guyana’s infrastructure push is  an example of that storytelling. Terminal 2 at the main international airport is planned as a terminal that tells Guyana’s story rather than merely processing passengers. He also listed two new regional airports, in Lethem and Berbice, along with a deep-water port, new road links, a planned new city and housing development.

On the environmental side, he said Guyana’s strengths lie in nature and eco-tourism, but that it needs the wider region to combine its product. He pointed to the Global Biodiversity Alliance, based in Guyana, which will hold its second summit later this month. He also said Guyana, with CARICOM’s backing, has applied to host the COP climate conference in 2030.

Alongside the ambition came a candid note. Caribbean culture, he said, can be relaxed about deadlines, and meeting big goals means setting hard timeframes and working backwards from them.

Digital Tourism, AI and Visa Friction

Ali called for a regional AI strategy and a regional cybersecurity strategy, arguing that individual countries are too small to adapt quickly on their own. Young people, he noted, form their picture of travel destinations through social media and AI, so the region must shape that narrative. He pointed to Qatar’s presence on streaming platforms and virtual experiences as an example of digital tourism done deliberately.

His sharpest remarks concerned visas. He criticized the European Union’s process for Guyanese travelers, who he said must travel to Trinidad or Suriname for biometrics, sometimes spending days to obtain a visa. Gulf states, by contrast, offer easy electronic visas. “The modern world can’t be that complicated,” he said.

What Travelers Should Take from This

For visitors, the speech previews where Caribbean travel could be headed:

• More regional itineraries. Ali spoke of an integrated transport system that would let travelers combine island beaches with destinations such as Guyana or Suriname.
• More experiences beyond the beach. Expect more marinas, theme attractions, festivals and events.
• More nature-led travel. Guyana is leaning into rainforest, rivers and biodiversity as its calling card.

For the industry, the message was equally clear. Regional air and sea connectivity, shared data, disaster financing and talent development are the priorities that will determine competitiveness.

The president ended with a sports metaphor. The region can be bold, he said, or it can play defense all day and hope to win on penalties.

Whether Caribbean governments and investors will act on that challenge remains to be seen. Transport integration, visa reform and region-wide strategies are hard to deliver across many sovereign states. Still, with Guyana rising as a destination and the CTO convening its members in Georgetown, the conversation about the future of Caribbean tourism has a new and louder voice.

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