Grand launch of One Guyana Christmas Village and Supermarket in Georgetown marks start of festive season

Guyana: The highly anticipated annual One Guyana Christmas Village and Supermarket has been officially launched along the Main Street Avenue in Georgetown, marking the official start of Christmas in Guyana.  

The launch ceremony on Monday brought together scores of citizens and residents who came together to enjoy and indulge in the beginning of Christmas celebrations in the country.  

The event featured a number of local chefs and caterers, with lots of delicious Guyanese goodies available from Singing Chef Adventures, Le Chef, Calvin's Indigenous Cuisine, Tels Gourmet kitchen and Desiree Balgobin. 

Christmas in Guyana is known as an experiential tourism product with this year’s Christmas Village also being converted into a supermarket experience in an aim to showcase local small as well as medium sized businesses.  

According to President of Guyana, Dr Irfaan Ali, the Christmas Village is now a staple and it is now a major part of the Guyanese Christmas experience as it transforms the main street into a national street of unity, love and peace where everyone will come together and celebrate the local food, culture, and identity.  

Calling the Christmas celebration in Guyana ‘unique’, he added that it is different from the rest of the world as it is more vibrant, colourful, cheerful and unifying. He noted that it is also more giving and peaceful because, “We just know how to do it better.” 

The President also encouraged the citizens and residents to utilise the local produce, food, culture as well as talent during the upcoming holidays as he aims to make this a celebration of the Guyanese identity.  

President Ali calls 2024 as year of significant developments 

During the ceremony, President Irfaan Ali, described the year 2024 as one of tremendous excitements, transformation and development which featured significant increases in air travel capacity.  

While building on this momentum, Dr Ali noted, “Next year is the year in which our tourism jet will take off.” 

He further said that his government will ensure that the calendar of activities will expand the tourism footprint as well as bring more traffic into the country. This will ensure that the hotel rooms remain filled, bed and breakfast facilities are filled with the officials working together to champion the prosperity for each other, added the President. 

President Ali emphasised that already this year, Guyana has added over 200,000 new seats with several major air carriers operation across the nation’s skies. Recently, Caribbean Airlines also announced that additional services will be added to the Guyana route in order to accommodate the influx of visitors for the upcoming busy Christmas season.