The product familiarisation tour (called a FAM trip by the industry) runs until November 26 and is the second of three such trips that bring international tour operators and media to Guyana to sample and evaluate the country’s birding experience as part of the GTA/United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Guyana Trade and Investment Support (GTIS) birding tourism programme.

The current FAM trip is hosting some of the world’s top birding companies, including: Wings; Tropical Birding; The Travelling Naturalist; Birding Ecotours; Toucan Birding Tours; Eagle Eye Tours; and EcoVentures Nature Tours.

The GTA said the countries being represented by the tour operators include Canada, the United States, Ecuador, South Africa, and England.

Collectively, the guides on the FAM trip have decades of birding and guiding experience around the world, with a particular focus on the Neotropical bird species found in the Caribbean and Central and South America.

The UK media being represented include Birdwatch magazine and Neotropical Birding. Birdwatch magazine has a circulation of 15,000 copies per month and is one of the UK’s top publications for keen birders around the world.

Neotropical Birding is the magazine published by the Neotropical Bird Club, a charitable organization in the UK with worldwide members that focus on conservation issues connected to Neotropical bird watching.

The participants of this FAM trip will see a wide section of Guyana’s birding offerings, including stops in Georgetown, Shanklands Rainforest Resort, Baganara, Arrowpoint Nature Resort, Kaieteur Falls, Surama Village, Iwokrama, Wowetta Village, Rock View Lodge, and Karanambu Ranch.

While on the trip, the participants will be learning about Guyana’s birds from local guides representing each individual location.

Justin de Freitas, of the North Rupununi Conservation Society and Dadanawa

Ranch, will also be joining the group throughout the trip to act as an accompanying guide, GTA said.

To gain the support from tour operators, the agency said, it is important to give them opportunities to experience Guyana firsthand. Focusing on the group tour market is beneficial because it will allow Guyana to develop better and more cost competitive birding programmes and create demand for local bird guides and other birding and general tourism related services and products within Guyana.

The GTA said the FAM tour programmes would not be possible if local tourism suppliers were not pledging their full support.

For this programme, GTA-GTIS is grateful for the generous donations of accommodation and in-kind and reduced cost services from BWIA, Trans Guyana Airways, Cara Lodge, Grand Coastal Inn, Baganara, Shanklands, Arrowpoint, Surama, Iwokrama, Rock View Lodge, Karanambu, Community and Tourism Services (CATS), and Wilderness Explorers.