Additional attractions promised for GuyExpo 2012

With just a few more days to go, preparations are well underway and it is expected that GuyExpo 2012 will be the biggest ever, with a lot of new additional attractions and upgraded facilities.
The exhibition will commence on September 27 and conclude on September 30. It will be held at the Sophia Exhibition Centre under the theme, “Strengthening the traditional, Embracing the new”.

During a walkthrough on Friday, Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA), Indranauth Haralsingh noted that this year’s GuyExpo is expected to be the biggest because of all the new amenities that are being put in place along with the added attractions.
The exhibition is expected to attract approximately 100,000 visitors over the four days.
Currently construction is being conducted at the site to build new facilities and upgrade the old ones. To add to the comfort of visitors, the parking lot has been expanded to facilitate more than 1000 vehicles. Several sanitary blocks are also being constructed across the venue.
Additionally, this year’s exhibition will include a few new villages such as a fashion village, a kids’ village, a tourism village, and a youth entrepreneurial village, along with an international pavilion to facilitate the participation of more than 10 countries in the exhibition.
The youth village, Haralsingh said, would allow young entrepreneurs to showcase their creativity, talents, and innovations and at the same time, send the message that young people can use GuyExpo as a platform to show that they can do things on their own.
The tourism village is expected to include enterprises such as travel agencies, THAG, and much more. Also, there will be entertainment every night in the tourism village provided by dancers, comedians, local and international artistes and to top it off, a special guest from the WWE will be there to entertain and thrill everyone.
The GTA director disclosed that 11 countries: the USA, Canada, Suriname, St Lucia, Barbados, China, Trinidad and Tobago, India, St Vincent, Brazil and Venezuela, have confirmed their participation in the exhibition whether as buyers, exhibitors, or investors. A new international pavilion will be constructed to accommodate them.
Haralsingh noted that this year’s GuyExpo will be focused mostly on bringing in international buyers to Guyana. “We see the need to create linkages so that transactions are not only short term but a long-term thing,” he said, while revealing that every day during the exhibition, before it is opened, buyers would be allotted a two-hour period to meet and create the linkages.
Also this year, there will be a focus on the Jagdeo Initiative on Agriculture. This feature will include a symposium and seminar to be held at the International Convention Centre, Liliendaal, on the morning of September 28, while in the afternoon there will be an investment forum.
One of the major attractions would be a miniature replica of the Giftland OfficeMax Mall, which will include a theatre to give persons an insight into what is yet to come. Another attraction would be the Princess Hotel’s booth, which is expected to have the casino, a mini-bar, and lots of giveaways.