-Nascimento cites authority’s figures
Communication consultant and resort operator Christopher Nascimento yesterday underscored that the local tourism sector has suffered significant visitor cancellations as a direct result of the horrific violence in the country.
In a letter to Stabroek News he took issue with Minister Manniram Prashad who was reported in the Guyana Chronicle yesterday as deeming Nascimento’s tourism arrival figures for this year as “nothing but blatant lies on the industry.”
According to the story headlined “Prashad refutes Nascimento’s tourism crisis claim” the minister compared last year’s arrival figures with that of this year and noted that there was not much of a decline.
Nascimento’s criticism on the tourism industry was made at the annual THAG Awards Dinner ceremony last Friday.
Nascimento said yesterday that the minister appeared to be using figures for total visitor arrivals which did not exclude non-residents and foreign passport holders and so were not representative of actual tourist arrivals.
And challenging the minister’s statements about his criticism, Nascimento declared, “I am not in the habit of lying. I take great care in the profession I practice to check my facts before going public with them.”
And supporting his contention that the tourism industry was in crisis, he quoted “the latest official Guyana Tourism Authority Director’s Report for February 2008 (which) states ‘tourist arrivals’ for January ’07 as 8,983 compared with January ’08 as 7,619; for February ’07 as 8,496 compared with February ’08 as 6,286, a 26% reduction.”
Nascimento also noted that March figures are not yet officially available for ’08 but tourist arrivals in March ’07 were 13,977 as a result of World Cup Cricket.
According to Nascimento, the minister was “issuing misleading statements about arrivals,” but instead he should “have his ministry provide him with information directly from the hospitality industry and realistically assess the damage which has been done and how the government can help in providing support and relief.”
“There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that our hoteliers, our resorts and our lodges have suffered significant cancellations as a direct result of the violence. My own resort certainly has. We have suffered domestic and foreign cancellations,” Nascimento maintained.
And citing an example, Nascimento said that he knew of a major local tour operator who “suffered cancellation of a birding tour, both from the fact of the violence and the fact that Guyana’s rates, which include VAT, are just too high compared with Belize, Costa Rica and Panama.”
Meanwhile, Nascimento noted that THAG had requested meetings with the minister months ago without a response. “Instead of indulging in misleading propaganda and being publicly abusive, Mr. Minister, I sincerely recommend that you sit down with the industry and talk with us. It’s our business and our money at risk and our interest to have a successful tourism industry.”
In contrast to Nascimento’s position, the Guyana Chronicle quoted the tourism minister as saying,
“We had no rapid decline in the arrival of visitors, last year during the period of March. We had 18,649 visitors last March and during March this year we had 18,626. We also have new airlines coming to Guyana, which will be a boost for the tourism industry. Of course there is crime, but Nascimento’s negativity on the tourism industry is not doing good.”
According to the Chronicle, the minister said further that Nascimento’s criticisms were totally unnecessary, especially during a tourism award ceremony and in the presence of internationally renown-ed Guyanese artiste Dave Martins who was the guest speaker at the dinner.
