– as SOTIC formally opens in Georgetown

His Excellency Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali has called on Caribbean governments, investors and tourism businesses to “scale up” their thinking and investment.

He warned that the region will lose ground to fast-moving competitors if it relies on its natural beauty alone.

The president gave the charge in his keynote address on Wednesday at the formal opening of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation’s (CTO) State of the Tourism Industry Conference (SOTIC) at the Atlantic Suites by Hyatt in Kingston, Georgetown.

He said tourism around the world is now defined by investment in transport links, and that this is the region’s biggest disadvantage.

“Our natural product and our natural beauty are important assets. But if we are complacent about the way we will reorganise, reorient, revalue, reposition this asset, we are not going to optimise its value in the future.”

He compared the danger to the decline of West Indies cricket, which was once built on natural talent and led the global game.

The head of state said the only thing that will move the region forward at scale is infrastructure, starting with an integrated transport system. He pointed to examples in the Gulf states, Brazil and Mexico that are investing in massive infrastructure to complement their tourism drive.

“The infrastructure tells you a story,” he said, listing Guyana’s own projects. These include a new airport terminal, two new regional airports at Lethem and Berbice, a new deep-water port, road links to the new city, and new housing developments.

“An airport today is not the airport of yesterday…That is why we are investing in Terminal 2, not only as a new terminal, but as a terminal that will tell the story of Guyana and where Guyana aspires to be,” he added.

Resilience built into investment

The president urged that disaster preparedness be written into tourism projects from the start. Investment agreements should carry contingency clauses that take effect automatically when a natural disaster strikes, he said, citing Jamaica’s recent experience.

He asked the CTO to lead work on a mechanism for disaster preparedness and business continuity, calling for less dependence on single markets and supply chains. He encouraged tourism businesses to source food from local farms and from partners across the region.

The president also proposed a regional strategy for artificial intelligence and cyber security, saying no single Caribbean country is big enough to do this alone.

Going after global events together

President Ali said Caribbean countries cannot each compete for major international events. Instead, he said, the region could agree on 10 events it wants to bring in by 2035 and build the infrastructure to host them.

He said Guyana has already set out to work at a global scale. It launched the Global Biodiversity Alliance on July 7 and, with CARICOM’s backing, has applied to host a United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP).

He also challenged investors to look past what nature already offers. As an example, he suggested a world-class tropical forest night safari in Guyana.

“This is where our investors are too laid back…They’re satisfied with the product that nature has given them. But the future is going to be completely different,” he said.

He closed by noting that international tourism recovered to near pre-pandemic levels within four years of COVID-19.

“Tourism is always resilient. But we have to now add to that resilience by the infrastructure, the investment, the partnership, the strategy,” he said.

Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Susan Rodrigues and Chief of Operations at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Ivan Alonso, were among participants who made remarks.

The Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) was also presented with the Green Destinations Country Baseline Assessment Award during the ceremony.

The conference was declared officially open with a traditional coconut-opening.

Guyana is hosting for the first time. SOTIC 2026 runs until October 9 under the theme “Tourism Futures: Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive”, and includes a Regional Tourism Youth Congress.