> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Jamaica Asked Visitors to Pay. Guyana Told Investors to Spend. Both Need the Same Arrival. - URL: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/sotic-georgetown-ali-investors-bartlett-levy-guyana-arrivals-2026/ - Published: 2026-10-08T14:32:22.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-11T05:16:58.000Z - Description: At the Caribbean Tourism Organisation conference in Georgetown, Jamaica's Edmund Bartlett proposed a visitor-funded resilience fund on 6 October and President Irfaan Ali called Caribbean investors "too laid-back" on 7 October. Guyana recorded 360,623 arrivals in nine months. - Author: Theon Alleyne - Tags: Tourism, Guyana, Caribbean, CARICOM, Analysis **Quick summary:** At the Caribbean Tourism Organisation conference in Georgetown, Jamaica's Edmund Bartlett proposed a visitor-funded resilience fund on 6 October and President Irfaan Ali called Caribbean investors "too laid-back" on 7 October. Guyana recorded 360,623 arrivals in nine months. The Dominican Republic recorded 9,241,246. By LCN Business Desk Two asks were made in Georgetown on consecutive days, and they point at the same person. On Tuesday the Tourism Minister of Jamaica asked the region to take a few dollars from every visitor and build a fund with it. On Wednesday the President of Guyana told the region's investors they were complacent and had to put money in. One proposal takes from the arrival. The other needs more arrivals to take from. ## What did Ali actually say? That the product nature gave the Caribbean is not enough, and that its investors are coasting on it. Opening the Caribbean Tourism Organisation's State of the Tourism Industry Conference on Wednesday, President Irfaan Ali [chided investors for failing to grab opportunities](https://demerarawaves.com/2026/10/07/ali-scolds-caribbean-investors-for-laid-back-approach-to-tourism-development/?ref=lacaribenanews.com) while Middle East countries spend heavily on building a high-value product. > This is where our investors are missing, this is where our investors are too laid-back, they are complacent, they are satisfied with the product that nature has given them but the future is going to be completely different. He set the comparison against states with the resources for marketing, branding and bidding for global events, and proposed the region collectively build the infrastructure to target **ten major global events by 2035**. Guyana, he said, would provide the land and scale for a world-class tropical forest night safari. He conceded the region would find it "very difficult" to invest on Middle Eastern terms and floated partnering with countries such as Saudi Arabia, and urged members to integrate their transport infrastructure. It is a supply-side argument. Build the product, and the visitors follow. ## What is Guyana's own tourism base? 360,623 arrivals in nine months, growing fast from a small number. Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Susan Rodrigues told the same opening that Guyana [recorded 360,623 visitor arrivals in the first nine months of 2026](https://inewsguyana.com/guyana-records-360000-visitor-arrivals-in-first-nine-months-of-2026/?ref=lacaribenanews.com), building on a 2025 record of **453,489 visitors**, itself **22 per cent** above 2024\. She credited **twelve new airlines since 2020** and **nine internationally branded hotels** entering the market, at a time when [Carnival Corporation's 2027 deployment ties Europe with the Caribbean](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/carnival-2027-deployment-europe-caribbean-paradise-collection-owned-ports-2026/) and the ships that stay increasingly call at ports the lines own. Those are real numbers and the growth rate is the strongest part of them. A country that added a fifth to its arrivals in a year, and twelve carriers in six, is not standing still. ## How does that compare with the region? The host counted in nine months roughly what the largest market counts in a fortnight. This newspaper reported yesterday that the Dominican Republic [took **9,241,246 visitors**](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/dominican-republic-9-2-million-visitors-september-cuba-sotic-2026/) in the same nine months to September, and **684,831 in September alone**. | January to September 2026 | Arrivals | | ------------------------- | ------------- | | Dominican Republic | **9,241,246** | | Guyana | **360,623** | | Cuba, January to July | 419,863 | Set side by side, the Dominican Republic received more than **twenty-five times** Guyana's nine-month total. On air arrivals alone, stripping out the Dominican cruise traffic that Guyana does not have, it is still close to **twenty times**. Its single month of September exceeded Guyana's whole nine months. A caution on comparing them. Each figure is reported on its own national basis and neither source defines it. The Dominican announcement gives "visitantes" without saying whether the count includes non-resident Dominicans, and without saying whether the air figure is total passengers or foreign tourists only. Guyana's is reported the same way. Both countries receive substantial diaspora travel, so the two series are likely built alike, but the orders of magnitude are what the comparison carries, not the decimal. > The region's largest tourism economy is not a member of the Caribbean Community. That is the fact that sits underneath both proposals, and neither addressed it. ## What does the levy ask of the same visitor? A contribution per arrival, on a model whose own country stopped ring-fencing it. Bartlett's [Caribbean Tourism Resilience Fund](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/caribbean-tourism-resilience-fund-bartlett-visitor-levy-sotic-2026/) would be financed by a "modest resilience contribution" linked to visitor activity, covering resilient infrastructure, post-disaster liquidity, worker protection, small business tourism, natural capital and early-warning systems. Jamaica's own fee is US$20 on an arriving air passenger and US$2 on a cruise passenger, raising a projected J$9.3 billion a year. Since the Tourism Enhancement (Amendment) Act of 11 July 2017, that fee has been paid into Jamaica's Consolidated Fund and the Tourism Enhancement Fund financed through the budget instead. So the two asks meet at the same turnstile. A levy raises money in proportion to arrivals. An investment drive exists to increase arrivals. They are compatible in principle and in tension in practice, because the levy is a charge on the growth the investment is meant to produce, and because it would be collected by a grouping that does not include the market generating most of the region's arrivals. ## What has to be true for both to work? Three things, and none of them was settled this week. The fund needs a fee level and an administrator, neither of which has been named. It needs a mechanism that reaches beyond CARICOM, or it taxes the smaller markets to insure the region. And the investment case needs the thing Ali was asking for: a reason for private capital to build in markets that, Guyana included, are small against the Dominican Republic and against the Middle Eastern competitors he cited. What the week did establish is that the region's tourism leadership can identify the problem precisely. Hurricane Melissa cost Jamaica 56.7 per cent of its 2024 gross domestic product, which is why a resilience fund is on the table at all. Cuba's collapse to [419,863 visitors in seven months](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/cuba-tourism-collapse-us-sanctions-sotic-georgetown-2026/) is why the conference opened on a question about where demand goes. The conference runs to 9 October. ### What the title card shows Every data point on the article's title card, in text. \* **360,623.** Guyana's visitor arrivals in the first nine months of 2026, per Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Susan Rodrigues at the SOTIC opening. Source: INews Guyana, 7 October 2026\. \* **453,489.** Guyana's 2025 arrivals, a record and 22 per cent above 2024\. Source: as above. \* **9,241,246.** Dominican Republic arrivals over the same nine months, as previously reported by this newspaper from Ministry of Tourism figures. \* **More than twenty-five times.** The Dominican nine-month total against Guyana's, and close to twenty times on air arrivals alone. Calculated from the figures above. Each country reports on its own basis and neither source defines it. \* **684,831.** Dominican Republic arrivals in September 2026 alone, which exceeds Guyana's nine-month total. \* **419,863.** Cuba's international visitors, January to July 2026\. \* **Twelve and nine.** New airlines serving Guyana since 2020, and internationally branded hotels entering the market. Source: INews Guyana. \* **Ten by 2035.** The number of major global events President Ali proposed the region build infrastructure to target. Source: Demerara Waves, 7 October 2026. ## Frequently Asked Questions What did President Ali say about Caribbean investors? Opening the Caribbean Tourism Organisation's State of the Tourism Industry Conference in Georgetown on 7 October 2026, he said investors were "too laid-back", "complacent", and "satisfied with the product that nature has given them", and contrasted the region with Middle East states investing heavily in a high-value tourism product. How many visitors has Guyana received in 2026? 360,623 in the first nine months, following a record 453,489 in 2025, which was 22 per cent above 2024. How does Guyana compare with the Dominican Republic? The Dominican Republic recorded 9,241,246 arrivals over the same nine months, more than twenty-five times Guyana's total, and close to twenty times on air arrivals alone. Its September alone, at 684,831, exceeded Guyana's nine-month figure. Each country reports on its own basis and neither source defines whether returning nationals are included. What is the proposed Caribbean Tourism Resilience Fund? A fund proposed by Jamaica's Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett on 6 October, financed by a contribution linked to visitor activity, modelled on Jamaica's Tourism Enhancement Fund. No fee level or administering body has been named. Why does CARICOM membership matter to the proposal? Because the Dominican Republic, which generates the largest share of the region's arrivals, is not a member of the Caribbean Community. A fund agreed among CARICOM states would not reach those visitors.