Guyana Takes the Caribbean Tourism Stage

Record arrivals, a dozen new airlines and a pitch for “inclusive” growth: Guyana used its first turn as host of the Caribbean’s biggest tourism forum to show where it wants to go next.

For decades, Guyana was the Caribbean’s quiet outlier. It is a mainland, rainforest-covered country with a Caribbean identity, and it sat on few travelers’ wish lists. This week in Georgetown, that image is changing in front of the region’s tourism establishment. The Caribbean Tourism Organization’s State of the Tourism Industry Conference (SOTIC) is being staged in Guyana for the first time. It ran from 5–9 October 2026 under the theme “Tourism Futures: Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive.” In her welcome address, Tourism Minister Susan Rodrigues made it clear that Guyana wants to do more than host. It wants to be seen as a serious voice in the regional conversation.

Why This Conference Matters

SOTIC is not a trade show. The CTO describes it as its principal forum for examining critical issues, sharing innovation and shaping the future of Caribbean tourism. Hundreds of regional and international delegates, including ministers, policymakers, journalists and youth representatives attended. The 2026 edition also adds a first: an inaugural Caribbean Tourism Research Forum, meant to push evidence-based decision-making across the region.

For Guyana, the hosting role carried symbolic weight. Rodrigues framed it as recognition, confidence and partnership. It also signals that a destination long viewed as peripheral now has experience, investment and lessons to share. The timing helps. Guyana is going through a period of rapid economic change, and tourism is increasingly part of that story.

The Numbers Behind the Buzz

Rodrigues backed the confidence with figures. In 2025, Guyana recorded 453,489 visitor arrivals, the highest in its history and a 22% rise over 2024. The momentum has continued: 360,623 visitors arrived in the first nine months of 2026.

Growth like that depends on access, and the minister put connectivity at the center of the story. Since President Irfaan Ali took office in 2020, Guyana has added 12 new airlines linking it with North America, Europe, the Caribbean and South America. Nine internationally branded hotels have also opened, which gives visitors more choice and shows that investors believe in the destination.

That infrastructure is also feeding the business-travel side. Guyana has hosted more than 18 conferences and major business events in 2026 alone, which supports its push into MICE tourism (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions). Rodrigues described MICE as a specialized, high-value segment of business travel and said SOTIC helps position Guyana as a major player in it.

Tourism That Spreads the Wealth

The most distinctive part of the speech was less about growth than about who benefits. Rodrigues said the government’s goal is not simply to count more arrivals. It wants to build an ecosystem where more Guyanese can take part and share in the gains, including farmers, fishermen, drivers, guides, artisans, entertainers and small entrepreneurs.

She gave a concrete picture of what that means. A traveler who heads into the Rupununi, stays at a community lodge, buys local crafts, eats food from nearby producers or hires a local guide should leave value in that community. The Rupununi is a savannah region in the south of the country and is known for community-run tourism.

Financing is the other half of the argument. Rodrigues pointed to the newly operational Guyana Development Bank, which she said began full operations only two days before her remarks. She said tourism businesses can access zero-interest, collateral-free loans to start or expand. The idea is to reach entrepreneurs the traditional banking system has often missed. Whether it works at scale is something the industry will watch, but it addresses one of the most common barriers for small tourism operators across the developing world.

Sustainability as a Selling Point

Guyana’s biggest draw is its natural setting. The country is heavily forested and home to Kaieteur Falls, one of the world’s most powerful single-drop waterfalls. Rodrigues argued that this heritage cannot be treated as scenery for visitors. Forests, rivers, wildlife and Indigenous culture are, in her words, national, community and global assets, and they have to be protected even as they generate income.

She tied this to a few specific markers. Guyana’s tourism product has drawn coverage in Bloomberg, Time and The New York Times. The country is working with Green Destinations and the Good Travel Seal program to raise sustainability standards. President Ali was due to receive recognition from Green Destinations on the day of the speech. Rodrigues stressed that sustainability is meant to be a measure of destination quality, not a marketing exercise.

She also highlighted the Georgetown Esplanade, built through the office of First Lady Zarya Ali as part of a park beautification effort. The point was that destination quality includes the public spaces locals and visitors share every day.

A Regional Message: Collaborate, Don’t Just Compete

The speech also had a clear regional message. Rodrigues said the Caribbean’s strength lies in its variety, and that destinations should stop thinking only in terms of competing for the same visitor. She posed a series of questions:

• How can the region improve air connectivity?
• How can destinations share data and tourism intelligence?
• How can the Caribbean be marketed collectively while each island or nation keeps its own identity?

This fits the CTO’s 2026 theme, “One Caribbean: Infinite Experiences,” which stresses community-centered tourism. Intra-regional air links are a long-standing pain point for Caribbean travelers, and a “multi-destination Caribbean” has been discussed for years. Guyana’s position as a mainland gateway, with direct flights growing, gives it a credible role in that conversation.

For visitors, the message is that Guyana is no longer a niche add-on. More flights mean easier access, and more branded hotels mean more comfort, especially in Georgetown. Community lodges and local guides offer a different kind of trip from the all-inclusive resort model. Compared with the better-known beach-led Caribbean, Guyana offers rainforest, rivers, savannah and Indigenous culture. It is closer in spirit to nature destinations such as Belize or Costa Rica than to classic island getaways.

There is a caution too. Rapid growth tests any destination’s ability to protect what makes it special. The minister’s emphasis on sustainability standards and community benefit is the right framing, but the real test will be execution as arrivals continue to climb.

Rodrigues closed by asking delegates to look past where tourism stands today and ask what the Caribbean wants it to become. She said the future traveler will expect authentic experiences, responsible development, good value, easy access and destinations that adapt to a changing world.

If Guyana can pair its record growth with the community and environmental commitments it described, it could offer the region a useful model, and give travelers a Caribbean destination that looks different from the usual postcard.

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