By LCN Business Desk
On a show floor in east London, under a sign reading "South America Undiscovered", the president of Guyana's tourism association held up a magazine with a giant fish on the cover.
Mitra Ramkumar launched Explore Guyana 2027, the official tourist guide of Guyana, at the country's stand at World Travel Market on 3 to 5 November 2026. Five Guyanese operators and bodies stood on that floor with him.
What did Guyana put on the stand in London?
The 2027 edition of the national tourist guide, with an arapaima on the cover and a fishing country behind it.
"It's one of the many giants in Guyana, the giant arapaima," the president of the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana told the stand. "It's actually a protected species."
The fish on the cover is caught and released. Ramkumar told buyers the magazine carries the account of how a protected species is fished that way and what it returns to the communities that host the experience, and he put the country's wider offer alongside it: sport fishing across more than 100 species of fish, in what he called a big fishing destination.
The guide is the answer to a question he says buyers keep asking. "Many people ask, what can I do? What can I do? Go to this official tourist guide, and it will guide you on everything that you can do in Guyana."
| What the stand carried | Detail |
|---|---|
| The national guide | Explore Guyana 2027, launched at the fair by THAG's president |
| The cover | An arapaima, a protected species, fished catch and release |
| The stand line | "South America Undiscovered" |
| The tasting | El Dorado 12 Year Old Demerara Rum, with local treats |
| The brochures | The Rupununi and the Essequibo |
| The delegation | Eight organisations, five of them Guyanese operators and bodies |
Sources: Department of Public Information, 5 November 2026, remarks at the launch, and photographs from the stand.
What is inside the 2027 edition?
A digital copy behind a QR code, three video messages, and a feature on what Guyana cooks.
Ramkumar handed out key rings carrying a QR code that opens the full digital edition. The guide runs messages from the President of Guyana, from the Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce and from the Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority, and in the digital copy each one plays rather than reads. "As you flip the digital pages, you can click on the link, and it takes you to a video," he said.
The gastronomy feature carries the association's own programme: Guyana Restaurant Week, the Flame and Flavour event, and Tacos, Rum and Wine. The back page is sponsored by El Dorado, the rum being poured a few feet away, and its maker Demerara Distillers is one of the very few Guyanese companies that invests abroad at all.
A scheduled session on the stand poured El Dorado 12 Year Old Demerara Rum beside brochures for the Rupununi and the Essequibo, the two regions the cover is selling. The pavilion ran as a networking and cultural promotion platform rather than a desk.
Who was on the floor with them?
The association, the Authority, the High Commission and five privately run Guyanese operators and bodies.
Wilderness Explorers, Trail Masters Adventure Tours, Travel the Guianas, Iwokrama and Visit Rupununi were named in the delegation, alongside the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana, the Guyana Tourism Authority and the Guyana High Commission in the United Kingdom.
Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Susan Rodrigues led the delegation and Kamrul Baksh, Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority, co-led it. The Minister had set out the brief three days earlier: "We'll be having a number of engagements with travel agents in the UK, media outlets, cruise industry leaders."
Five privately run Guyanese operators and bodies on one national stand is the shape of the delegation the Department of Public Information named.
What landed while they were there?
Guyana's best October on record, published on the Wednesday of the fair.
The Guyana Tourism Authority put October arrivals at 47,726, the highest October the country has recorded, while the delegation was still at ExCeL. The year to October reached 408,349, against the more than 500,000 the Minister set for it on 31 October.
That figure reached the stand before the fair closed. The buyers Guyana was meeting book November and December travel, and November and December are the months the target still has to count.
The fair was the first of the two overseas items on the Authority's Tourism Awareness Month calendar, published on 1 November with 31 dated events under the theme "Tourism Is Everybody's Business".
Where does it go from here?
A roundtable with Saint Lucia, Brussels on 9 November, and a guide already selling its 2027 pages.
Minister Rodrigues held a roundtable with Ernest Hilaire, Saint Lucia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investment, Creative Industries, Culture and Information, on shared interests and closer regional tourism cooperation.
The British visitor who books a Saint Lucia beach week is a visitor Guyana can sell a second week to.
From London the Minister travels to Brussels for a panel hosted by the World Tourism Institute, alongside Ghana's tourism minister, on sustainable tourism, cultural preservation and investment. "I'll be bringing the Caribbean perspective and, of course, all of the knowledge that we have," she said before leaving.
Explore Guyana 2027 is in the hands of the British trade, and the key rings go further than the copies did. Every one of them opens the same edition on a phone, so a buyer who took one home from ExCeL is carrying the guide rather than a brochure.
The half-million is a national number. The bookings that make it up are taken one business at a time, and in the first week of November eight Guyanese organisations were in London taking them.
The entities
- Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) is Guyana's private-sector tourism body. Its president is Mitra Ramkumar. - Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) is the state tourism agency. Its director is Kamrul Baksh. - World Travel Market is the London travel trade fair, held at ExCeL from 3 to 5 November 2026. - Explore Guyana 2027 is the official tourist guide of Guyana, launched at the fair by THAG's president. - Susan Rodrigues is Guyana's Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, and led the delegation. - Ernest Hilaire is Saint Lucia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investment, Creative Industries, Culture and Information. - Wilderness Explorers, Trail Masters Adventure Tours, Travel the Guianas, Iwokrama and Visit Rupununi are the operators and bodies named in the delegation. - Guyana High Commission in the United Kingdom took part alongside the delegation.
What the title card says
- Headline: Guyana's tourism association launched the country's official guide in London. - Deck: five member operators were on the stand at World Travel Market, and the country's best October on record landed while they were there. - Fair and dates: World Travel Market, ExCeL London, 3 to 5 November 2026. - On the stand, the national guide: Explore Guyana 2027, launched at the fair by the association's president. - On the stand, the cover: an arapaima, a protected species, fished catch and release. - On the stand, the line: "South America Undiscovered". - On the stand, the tasting: El Dorado 12 Year Old, poured beside Rupununi and Essequibo brochures. - On the stand, the delegation: eight organisations, five of them Guyanese operators and bodies. - Guyanese operators and bodies named: Wilderness Explorers, Trail Masters Adventure Tours, Travel the Guianas, Iwokrama, Visit Rupununi. - October 2026 arrivals, published during the fair: 47,726, a record for the month. - Year to October 2026: 408,349 against a target of more than 500,000.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did THAG launch at World Travel Market?
Explore Guyana 2027, the official tourist guide of Guyana. Mitra Ramkumar, the association's president, launched it at the Guyana pavilion. The cover carries an arapaima, a protected species fished catch and release.
What is in the 2027 edition?
A QR code on a key ring opens the full digital copy. The guide carries messages from the President of Guyana, the Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce and the Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority, each playing as a video in the digital edition, and a gastronomy feature covering Guyana Restaurant Week, Flame and Flavour, and Tacos, Rum and Wine. El Dorado sponsors the back page.
Which Guyanese businesses were on the stand?
Wilderness Explorers, Trail Masters Adventure Tours, Travel the Guianas, Iwokrama and Visit Rupununi, with the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana, the Guyana Tourism Authority and the Guyana High Commission in the United Kingdom.
When and where was the fair?
World Travel Market ran at ExCeL London from 3 to 5 November 2026. It was the first of two overseas items on Guyana's Tourism Awareness Month calendar, the second being a panel in Brussels on 9 November.
How does this connect to the 500,000 target?
Guyana recorded 408,349 arrivals to the end of October 2026 against a target of more than 500,000 for the year. A trade fair in the first week of November sells travel for the months the target still has to count.
Who led the delegation?
Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Susan Rodrigues led it, with Kamrul Baksh, Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority, co-leading.