Despite assurances that there would have been significant participation on the final day of the Caribbean Sustainable Tourism Conference being held here just a handful of hurriedly mobilized University of Guyana students were present yesterday and they did not actively participate in the session.
Stabroek News was told by the students that it was only yesterday morning, a few hours before the start of the General Session V:-Role of Youth in Mitigating the Impacts of Climate Change for Sustainable Tourism that they were told to be at the Conference Centre for 1:30 pm. “We were told by a lecturer this morning to find twelve students and go to the conference centre for 1:30”, said one of the students, from the University of Guyana, to affirmative nods from his nine counterparts.
Delegates, both regional and international, expressed their disappointment that the session which was chaired by Tameca Sukhdeo-Singh, a tourism lecturer at the University of Guyana only had presentations by four youths with only one being Guyanese.
“We were discussing this before and were saying that we hope to see some students this afternoon so it is a bit sad and disappointing that none are in here,” said Ian Herman of the St Lucia Tourism Board.
He added “I don’t know what the organizers did in terms of getting the students here because one would think that hearing so much especially about the garbage situation in Guyana and us seeing the amount rubbish you people have here that they would start at the community level and try to get at least the primary and secondary students involved…so today I am concerned that students were not here to be sensitized because there was so much they could learn.” He said that he was sure that organizers of the next conference would take note and make the necessary provision as the target for environmental preservation was the young.
Another delegate from Canada said “This has been an observation from the opening and while many would not comment it is talked about a lot among delegates. We were hoping that it would be an interactive session where the youth especially of Guyana would take the limelight and show what plans they had and how these could be developed. I am not sure what is the requirement for this kind of thing but if you want to keep them out of adult sessions at least allow them to take the stage for the youth session…future sustainability of everything not just tourism or the environment lies entirely on the education and sensitization of the young generation. Guyana has missed a great opportunity.”
Acting Tourism Minister, Irfaan Ali had on Tuesday assured Stabroek News that efforts would have been made to ensure significant youth participation at the conference for yesterday’s general sessions which had been set aside for youth from the inception. At the same time, he pointed out that the STCs are industry conferences that require participants to register and pay a fee before being accredited by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and not the Guyana Tourism Authority.“The sustainable tourism conference is organized by the Caribbean Tourism Organization. It is an industry conference where you had to pay and you had to be registered and accredited to be in it”, Ali told Stabroek News on Tuesday when questioned.
The Director General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, Hugh Riley, who earlier this week had no explanation for the poor attendance and participation by youths, yesterday admitted that there were problems for which he took responsibility. He further stated that efforts to have as much local participation as possible were futile but that the CTO was pleased with the efforts of the youth who did participate. “We were not able to succeed in our efforts to have as many segments of the community and were certainly not able to have as much young people as we wanted but we are extremely happy with the output and input that the young people who came actually put in their presentations”.
He added: “We had the ultimate responsibility for that and I am accepting that we could have done a better job in getting young people into the conference…In a perfect world that would happen. It did not happen over the last three days and I take full responsibility.”
