The Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) has pulled its ads from the Explore Guyana magazine and its director has asked the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) to stop branding the publication as the official tourist guide of Guyana.
After 14 years of publication and support from the tourism ministry which had purchased, distributed and advertised in it, the magazine is being snubbed as the ministry plans to start its own shortly. THAG believes it has earned the reputation of being Guyana’s official tourist guide and will not remove that tagline from its glossy Explore Guyana guide.
And while THAG sees another publication as unnecessary and pursuant to an agenda it cannot understand, Tourism Minister Manniram Prashad on Thursday lashed out at the content of Explore Guyana saying that it was not up to scratch with what government envisages for tourism in Guyana.
Meanwhile, at a press conference on Thursday THAG president Renata Chuck-a-Sang brought the association’s concerns to the fore against the backdrop of the many challenges which the industry is already facing. Chuck-a-Sang said that instead of spending money on a replica of Explore Guyana which will compete for the same limited advertising resources, the GTA could produce complementary publications.
Late last month GTA Director Indranauth Haralsingh wrote to Chuck-a-Sang objecting to THAG’s use of the tagline “The official guide of Guyana” making known government’s plans to publish its own magazine which it intends to market as the official guide. Further, Haralsingh said that for THAG to state that its publication was being done in collaboration with the GTA is inaccurate, untrue and misleading as “Over the years the GTA has had no input into the publication of the magazine… therefore the GTA is asking that you desist from publishing this statement in your magazine.” The letter also stated that the GTA would continue to recognise all magazines and tourism literature that portrays a very positive image of Guyana’s tourism product.
According to Chuck-a-Sang THAG has 49 paying members and it is printed with advertising dollars exclusively. The magazine does not receive any subvention from the government. She reiterated that THAG had only said it was collaborating with the ministry based on Prashad’s specific request. “We will not consider moving the tagline of being the official tourist guide. There has been nothing like it or similar to it in the last 14 years and precedent dictates that it is fair for us to make that statement,” THAG past president Cathy Hughes interjected.
Chuck-a-Sang said too THAG used its own resources from its members to develop and publish a high quality brochure which became the full-fledged first class glossy Explore Guyana. She said the magazine enjoys international recognition of which Guyana can be proud and that until last year the GTA at its own initiative, purchased at cost an additional 20,000 copies directly from the publisher, at no financial benefit to the association. She contended that this was surely a much cheaper means of promoting Guyana than publishing a rival magazine targeting the same audience.
Chuck-a-Sang said now that the GTA has withdrawn its advertising it has engaged the services of someone who is canvassing advertisers in Explore Guyana to transfer their ads to its still to be published magazine. The THAG president said her association has no quarrel with the GTA as they ought to have the same agenda but the only way to overcome the challenges of the sector is for the government and private sector to cooperate.
‘Our right’
When Stabroek News contacted Haralsingh for a comment on Thursday he declined saying that the minister had already addressed the matter at a press conference hosted the same day. However, this newspaper was not invited to the briefing.
However, during a parliamentary recess Prashad said that the GTA magazine will not rival Explore Guyana and that it was not unusual to target the same advertisers for similar projects. Further, he said, “It is up to the advertiser whether they want to advertise with the new magazine or not, we can’t do anything about that but we have a right to ask anyone to come on board. When he was asked whether going on board with THAG would not have been an option Prashad said the ministry had tried to make such an arrangement on several occasion but that the association had refused.
He said he had asked the publishers to print Explore Guyana in association with the ministry but that when the ministry asked to see material before publication the request was always denied. Prashad said he didn’t always agree with the subjects the magazine covered and that it can never be considered the official guide to Guyana as government had not branded it as such. He said too that he has no problem with any tourism association publishing a magazine.
