LOS ANGELES Tourism on Venice Beach

Guyana is aiming to focus its draw of tourists based on becoming the entertainment capital of the region. The recent Rodeo 2022 at Lethem, Region Nine is proof of this! With a full schedule of sporting and entertainment activities on offer with good attendance, highlighted the positive signs that this is a sector they can develop further. This new culture of festivity is the result of several factors, including the relaxation of the COVID-19 restrictions.

The Rupununi Rodeo is a major national event and together with neighbouring Brazil with its huge population could catapult the sport into a global sporting activity. The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) was recently launched in Guyana, which will commence in August 2022. Cricket is another big sporting event for the country.

Sports and entertainment are high on the agenda of the government future plans with the infrastructure of sports and tourism, to be strengthened and training programmes created in areas such as hospitality, event management and culinary skills with a view to making the industry more competitive. The infrastructure is already responding well to these new develo-pments with the construction of new top-class hotels, transportation and other logistical support and more strategic interventions in terms of public security.

One interesting development is diversification of the tourism package to accommodate the varied interests of visitors. The Regatta in Bartica, Rodeo in Lethem, the Kaieteur and Orinduik Falls in Region Eight with its beautiful mountain ranges in Kato and Monkey Mountain, all come together to create that Magnificent Province for which the country is internationally famous.

Guyana is blessed with a rich diversity of flora and fauna and a vast rainforest making it a natural tourist and entertainment destination.

With increased crime levels in Los Angeles, U.S.A., the local police is increasing its presence in the Venice Beach area as it is a top tourist hotspot during the summer.

The increase in crime is partly due to increased homeless people who live in encampments and RVs close by as well as high drug addicts in the area too, this is also leading to high amounts of rubbish too seen throughout the Venice neighbourhood.

Venice Beach has been the centre of most of Los Angeles’s debate over homelessness and crime as last year saw hundreds of encampments cleared by officials.

Venice Beach is a small coastal town with a vibrant, diverse community of small business owners and artists, yet it has the highest number of homeless people (2,000) living on its streets after Skid Row (4,000).

Citywide, Los Angeles has over 41,000 homeless people, and the county has over 62,000.

Venice beach, Los Angeles, U.S.A.

WALES, UNITED KINGDOM INTRODUCES TOURIST TAX

The Welsh authorities plan to introduce a specific tourist tax in the autumn of 2022. This could mean travellers opt for other destinations, but with tourism already seeing good signs of growth, Wales hopes it will help support its tourism sector further.

Many travellers are still choosing to holiday within the UK for now, due to a number of factors and a holiday at home is going to be less than one aboard.

Forecasts for Welsh tourism expect to reach 12.6 million this year outpacing pre-pandemic levels. The tax would avoid the peak summer months, but October and November are still popular months for travel within the UK.

Caernarfon Castle,Wales, United Kingdom

BEYOND BEAUTY MASHPI LODGE ECUADOR

Mashpi Lodge is a nature lover’s delight. Set amid the 3,200-acre Mashpi Reserve, the property is surrounded by the Ecuadorian Choco rainforest. Hiking trails lead guests past gushing waterfalls, lush greenery and wild inhabitants, including hundreds of species of birds, butterflies, jungle frogs and even pumas.

Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador

Almost in the middle of nowhere, yet it is located just 70 miles from Quito, taking about 3 hours to get there over a raw landscape. Mashpi Lodge organises transfers from Quito hotels.

The Lodge is designed as the ideal springboard for exploring the biodiverse world of its reserve. It combines high levels of modern comfort, service, guided excursions, and cuisine hitherto unheard of in a tropical forest environment anywhere else in the world.

ZIMBABWE LAUNCHES NATIONAL TOURISM SATELLITE ACCOUNT (TSA)

Tourism is a key player in the Zimbabwe economy representing 6.3% of GDP in 2019. The country has also made the move from its national currency being the US dollar to the Zimbabwean dollar.

The Tourism Satellite Account - TSA was created as part of the Zimbabwe Destination Development Programme and supported by International Finance Corporation (IFC). In addition to recording the number of tourists visiting the country, the initiative also provides monetary and non-monetary tourism data related to demand and supply and measures the value of expenditure on goods and services across all types of tourism as well as the value of tourism-sector industries producing goods and/or services. It is used to quantify the tourism sectors contribution to GDP and national employment rates.

Tourism in Zimbabwe has been badly hit by the pandemic with fewer tourists and continued travel restrictions. Policymakers in Zimbabwe now have the opportunity to support the recovery of the tourism sector through stimulating traveller demand, and sustainably allowing entry into the country.