There exists an understandable anxiety among some Cricket World Cup Bed and Breakfast registrants over what they perceive to be uncertainties associated with guest bookings for the period of the Super Eight leg of the tournament in Guyana. And the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) would do well to move quickly to allay those concerns since they could undermine all of the hard work that has been done to prepare the country for the hosting of CWC 2007.
The concerns that have been communicated to the Stabroek Business follow a story published in the February 22 issue of the Stabroek News on the issue of Bed and Breakfast bookings. What Stabroek Business has learnt is based on conversations with just five B&B registrants and that – bearing in mind that there are around 2,000 rooms registered – is a small number. Still, we cannot say for sure that the experience of those five persons with whom we have spoken is not shared by other registrants.
The common concern among the B&B registrants with whom we have spoken is that with just over two weeks left before the start of the World Cup they have no idea whatsoever as to whether or not there will be “takers” for the rooms that they have prepared, in every case at fairly considerable expense – for CWC guests. Their anxiety has become considerably heightened as the countdown to the opening ceremony has narrowed from months to weeks amidst rumours that we cannot really be certain that the figure of 30-odd thousand CWC visitors touted several months ago can be relied upon at this stage.
Three of the B&B registrants with whom we have spoken have actually taken matters into their own hands and have been using the websites of relatives and friends residing in the Caribbean and North America to advertise their rooms to potential travellers in England, Australia, South Africa and elsewhere. One of the registrants told Stabroek Business, however, that he believed that potential visitors may prefer to exercise the precaution of using only the information provided officially by the LOC and that taking initiatives that had no LOC stamp of approval could actually prove counterproductive.
The B&B registrants with whom we have spoken have all said that in recent months getting information out of the LOC has proven difficult, a far cry, they say, from the situation of several months ago when LOC officials were actually visiting homes to make B&B arrangements. Stabroek Business is aware of a directive that has been circulated within the LOC placing an embargo on the dissemination of information by members of staff. In recent months, only LOC Chairman, Sports Minister Frank Anthony and Chief Executive Officer Karran Singh are authorized to speak to the media. The official explanation for this development is that the LOC is seeking to avoid the dissemination of misinformation as the event draws closer. The fact of the matter is, however, that the LOC has had to face some increasingly awkward questions about aspects of its preparations for CWC for which secretariat staff have had no answers and have, in some cases, been simply avoiding some issues. A good example of this is its silence on the issue of the appearance of fake CWC souvenirs and forged “swing tags” in Guyana – the items have already gone on sale in the city – and the implications of this for breach of CWC licensing regulations and the ‘sunset legislation.”
In the absence of official information Stabroek Business has learnt from a source close to the LOC that some B&B registrants have been seeking, without success, to secure “hard and fast” commitments from the LOC – two of the persons with whom Stabroek Business spoke have actually sought such commitments – that their rooms will be rented. The source has told Stabroek Business that the LOC is not about to provide such commitments since it recognizes the possible legal implications of such commitments once the rooms are not taken.
This is of course the first occasion on which Guyanese have been required to open their homes to visitors on such a large scale and the qualifying preconditions set by the LOC caused many B&B registrants, particularly in the LOC’s C and D categories to make sizeable investments in order to bring their rooms up to the desired standard. And while our source was not prepared to say that some registrants will end up having no guests at all the point was certainly made that the LOC is anxious that it does not find itself in any legal bind based on anything resembling dishonoured contractual obligations.
One of the registrants in what we believe to be the D category told Stabroek Business that for her the situation had been reduced to one of “waiting and hoping” and that all of the hype and excitement of some months ago had gone out of her own Cricket World Cup plans. It would, of course, be a great pity if we were to be left with a sour taste in our mouths at the conclusion of our first real experience with “big time” tourism.
