Over 16,000 arrivals during CWC period
- immigration records
Stabroek News
April 11, 2007
The Immigration Department has reported that over 16,000 persons arrived in Guyana through the Single Domestic Space during the Cricket World Cup period from March 28 to April 9.
The Government Informa-tion Agency (GINA) quoted Deputy Chief Immigration Officer George Vyphuis as saying, "a lot of visitors were present in the country from late February to last weekend with the majority coming through the Single Domestic Space."
Stabroek News had made contact with Vyphuis on two occasions regarding visitor numbers. On the first occasion, he was not in office and requested that this newspaper telephone him again since he did not have the numbers at hand. Yesterday this newspaper made contact with him again. Again, he was not in office but asked to be contacted later.
When Stabroek News telephoned him again late yesterday afternoon, hours after the GINA statement was released, Vyphuis said he did not have any information and Stabroek News would have to make contact with him today.
GINA said that with the elimination of favourites India and Pakistan in the preliminary rounds, host countries have been suffering from low visitor arrivals. However, during February and March, visitor arrivals in Guyana more than doubled the figure recorded during the CWC period.
"Our figures show that there were over 40,000 visitors that came through both the international and regional flights from February 1 to March month end," the deputy chief immigration officer told GINA. This figure would appear to include Guyanese living here.
The GINA release said the Immigration Department was commended for ensuring that there was hassle free movement of persons travelling in and out of Guyana during the CWC period.
"We had promised that everything would run smoothly and it did. Our immigration officers were commended for the courteous and efficient way that they carried out their duties I just want to assure that we will continue to be professional," Vyphuis said.
In addition, he reported that there were no adverse reports at the Cheddi Jagan Inter-national Airport or at other ports of entry as the Immi-gration Department had placed a lot of emphasis on training during the run up to the games, which contributed to the performance of officers.