With the establishment of a new booking engine – Kaietour.com, the local tourism industry is anticipating an increase in books from international tourists.
Created by Salaudeen Nausrudeen – a Florida-based Guyanese Technology Entrepreneur – kaietour.com pays homage to Guyana’s breathtaking Kaieteur Falls.
The booking application that was launched on Friday can be found via Apple Store or Google Play Store. He said it took his team 18 months to create it with some GUY$60 million invested.
Kaietour.com helps travellers to easily search, find, book and pay for travel to Guyana or anywhere in the world with a wide selection of flights, hotels, car rentals, vacation packages, tour packages and even taxi services.
It is also an easy and affordable way for Guyanese tour operators, hotels, resorts, local airlines, car rental companies and taxis to list their inventory to attract global tourists, of which the Diaspora is a significant segment.
According to Nausrudeen, Kaietour.com was developed because Guyana’s tourism operators are at a disadvantage.
“Guyana’s rich and unique tourism inventory is not readily available for booking and purchasing online and therefore, invisible to global tourists, ultimately resulting in no bookings”, he pointed out.
“If you’re in tourism and you’re not online or listed on a booking engine like Kaietour.com, then you’re not open for business.”
Minister of Tourism, Oneidge Walrond lauded the initiative and explained that it has “filled a long-needed gap” in Guyana’s tourism industry and called on tourism operators to make full use of it.
And while the platform seeks to put a spotlight on tourism destinations, Walrond reminded that the government is also doing its part to continuously improve the standard of service offered, through investments, training and launching new tour packages within regions.
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary, Robert Persaud noted that the platform would provide the support network to bridge the gap between Guyana and the diaspora.
He noted that as the economy expands and grows, the Kaietour platform is ideal to plan for travel to Guyana, with convenient access to Guyana’s tourism product.
The platform offers a complete booking experience, including full pre-payment, negating the need for any cash transactions by travellers while in Guyana.