Dear Editor,
Permit me to respond graciously to comments in a Guyana Chronicle article of October 9, 2008 from head of the Guyana Tourism Autho-rity (GTA), my friend Mr. Haralsingh who having raised these issues in the public domain leaves me no other option but to respond publically.
Mr. Singh is right that Guyana has received valuable international publicity highlighting the wonders of this magnificent country (much over the last 10 years) but his has been mostly in spite of any government lead initiatives. Regretfully tourism arrival statistics distributed by the GTA show visitor arrivals in June 1994 of 8,278 and in June 2008 of 9,284 a minuscule increase over 14 years given this free promotion and even the hype of cricket world cup. Yes some months and years have been better but the reality is that today we have more hotel rooms than three years ago but we also have less airlines flying into Guyana, and with the world paying more for aviation fuel, tourism as an industry can expect to decline rapidly internationally given the current chaos in the world’s major financial markets. So Mr. Haralsingh an increase in the number of magazines your office may want to produce or the number of Tourism Associations you get yourself busy creating will NOT change these fundamentals.
What is sad and very disappointing is that the GTA is busy with these initiatives rather than tackling the fundamentals that govern the industry today. Visit Trinidad or Suriname…very close to home and conduct your own informal survey and you will realize that crime (as usual the perception is greater than the reality) is the number one reason why these figures have declined and Guyanese in the Diaspora are the major culprits in relation to this sentiment. Yet the GTA, the organization charged with marketing Guyana internationally is yet to implement a damage control programme in any of our major markets or to do something, anything constructive to change this situation. It is interesting to note that at the just concluded Guianas tourism conference hosted last weekend by Suriname, the GTA did not even show up and your empty booth full of missed opportunities was the laughing stock of all!
So in true Guyana style we spend valuable time destroying what we have built and breaking down the good relations, and finding every excuse why we cannot do it together – government and the private sector working together for a common good – GUYANA. No problem in continuing on this path, while we fight amongst ourselves for the crumbs and on chopping up the cake instead of “baking a bigger cake” other developing nations like ourselves with far less tourism potential are moving ahead fast in this challenging and competitive global market where time is money. It would be wonderful if next time you would view honest constructive criticism as a way for us all to examine where we are and how together we can move forward. I continue to be a member of THAG committed to this ideal.
Yours faithfully,
Cathy Hughes
Past President
of THAG
