Joanne Husain goes to Guyana in search of wildlife and finds an oasis in the heart of the Upper Essequibo, where the Yupukari Village is reinventing how visitors interact with the land. The village is apprehensive about the current conflict over the region.
Caribbean tourism is estimated to be the single largest sector in terms of contribution to GDP, accounting for up to 80 per cent in some Caribbean countries and directly employing over one million workers throughout the region.
With only one per cent of the world’s population, the Caribbean attracts at minimum three per cent of global tourism arrivals and expenditure. Blue skies, white sands, and the bejewelled sea still prove irresistible to numerous visitors annually, but the tourism landscape is shifting.
[caption id="attachment_1048810" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A black xaiman on the banks of the Rupununi River. - Faraaz Abdool[/caption]
Communities rather than conglomerates are the new hosts. Community-based tourism (CBT) places the community at the centre of tourism planning, development and management. CBT aims to improve the residents’ quality of life by optimising local economic benefits, protecting the natural and cultural environments and providing high quality visitor experiences. (This is what has given Castara, Tobago, an edge for the decade before covid19.)
The Caribbean as a tourism destination may have been built by largely by foreign-owned, large-scale, all-inclusive beach resorts. This has posed challenges in balancing the economic benefits of tourism with the need for equity as well as environmental and cultural preservation.
Guyana, however, has embraced a sustainable paradigm with CBT at the forefront of tourism development. Geographically South American but historically and politically Caribbean, the country remains heavily forested and is one of the world’s last stands of wilderness. These characteristics are becoming increasingly desirable for today’s tourists who are searching for ethical, authentic, meaningful, and transformative travel experiences.
[caption id="attachment_1048806" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Solar powered lights with handwoven cotton shades in the cozy sitting area of Caiman House. - Faraaz Abdool[/caption]
The Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) has been actively encouraging CBT development particularly in rural and indigenous communities. Through the GTA’s support of CBT with tourism product development, training programmes and securing donors, Guyana has seen an increase in tourist arrivals alongside socio-economic benefits for traditionally marginalised communities – all in a place without any of the typical “sun, sea and sand.”
It is not surprising that Guyana offers a blueprint for the region in sustainable and community-owned and -led tourism.
Caiman House
In Guyana’s Region 9, within indigenous-controlled Yupukari village, is Caiman House, winner of the 2022 Caribbean Sustainable Travel Award.
Here, the accommodation is rustic and artisanal, but comfortable. Thatched roofs and wa
