Guyana hosts Caribbean tourism leaders for the first time as SOTIC 2026 closes in Georgetown
Georgetown has spent this week at the centre of Caribbean tourism, as Guyana hosted the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s State of the Tourism Industry Conference (SOTIC) for the first time.
The conference ran October 5–9 under a theme focused on smarter, more sustainable and more inclusive tourism. It brought together tourism ministers, industry executives, researchers, media and young delegates from across the region.
President Irfaan Ali delivered the keynote at the formal opening on Wednesday, October 7. Thursday’s programme centred on a ministerial discussion about competing for tomorrow’s visitor, led by Guyana’s tourism minister Susan Rodrigues, alongside the Regional Tourism Youth Congress. The week closes Friday, October 9 with destination media briefings, where countries present projects, campaigns and arrival figures.
For Guyana, the local story is what hosting signals. Georgetown’s hotel capacity has been expanding, the country is pushing to move past 400,000 visitor arrivals a year, and officials continue to position eco-tourism — built around forests and the low-carbon strategy — as the distinctive offer that separates Guyana from sun-and-sea competitors.
Hosting a first SOTIC does not by itself fill hotel rooms, but it puts Georgetown in front of the decision-makers who plan conferences, sell packages and write travel coverage across the Caribbean. If even a share of this week’s delegates return as visitors, investors or advocates, the exposure could outlast the conference itself.
The test now is follow-through: turning this week’s conversations about airlift, investment and sustainable growth into bookings and jobs that Guyanese in the tourism trade can feel.
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