On January 18, 2023, the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) hosted its first Tourism Business Licensing Clinic at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre. For one day, existing and new tourism business owners were able to connect with key regulatory agencies to expedite the processes and address the challenges related to registering and licensing their businesses.


 
Of the agencies present, Go Invest, Maritime Administrative Department, National Insurance Scheme, Environmental Protection Agency, Guyana Revenue Authority, Guyana Fire Service, Central Housing & Planning Authority, Guyana Lands & Survey Commission, Mayor and Town Council, Assuria, Diamond Fire & General Insurance, Nalico/Nafico, Demerara Mutual and BrinsJen Systems Development Specialists demonstrated the utmost patience and knowledge while interacting with the participants and guiding them through the relevant policies.
 
This collaborative effort emphasised the GTA’s commitment to promoting multi-sectoral tourism development and accelerating the country’s transformational process through significantly innovative, transformative measures. The GTA would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the agencies that participated, and we look forward to even more collaboration in the coming weeks.
 
More importantly, participants were able to initiate the process or officially license their businesses, which was a great opportunity for them to become familiar with the GTA’s Tourism Business Licensing Portal. The Manager of Training & Licensing, Ms Tamika Inglis, when asked about her thoughts on hosting the first tourism business licensing clinic, had the following to say: “It was a great initiative.

“I am absolutely satisfied with the outcome, and it was indeed a success. What we would like to do at the GTA is make this an annual event.” She further expressed that, “at the beginning of each year, we typically encourage persons to come on board and get licensed with us, but this year, we wanted a much more hands-on approach. We wanted to reach the people directly and have them experience first-hand what the process entails and have them engage with the relevant authorities. In the coming weeks, we will be hosting similar sessions in outlying areas, and we look forward to an even bigger turnout.”