Tourism Minister Irfaan Ali has announced the development of a marketing strategy to bring home 100,000 Guyanese living abroad.
The announcement of what has been dubbed “Guyana Homecoming 2015” was made on Friday at the launch of Guyana’s 20th Tourism Awareness Month, held at the Amerindian Village in the Sophia Exhibition Centre.
Ali stated that his ministry is anticipating bringing home 100,000 Guyanese who have migrated to different parts of the world.
It is partnering with the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) and airlines to design the strategy for the homecoming. He said they will be doing widespread social media marketing, while setting up a booking engine, designed by an international company, to improve booking of trips to Guyana. He stated that this would mean an increase of tourists and revenue. This feature, he said, is expected to be added to the ministry’s website and ready for service by the end of the month. “These are no longer goals that are far-fetched, these are goals that are achievable,” he said.
Ali, who urged the private sector to join the campaign to improve tourism, also announced plans to reduce the cost for locals to explore Guyana, since most Guyanese have not experienced the beauty of the country. He urged Guyanese to promote their country, because “we have the best white sands…, savannahs…, [and] wildlife….” He added that Guyanese need “to be proud of it and sell it to the world.”
However, in an article on Yahoo.com just five days ago, Yahoo Travel expert/writer Lee Abbamonte ranked Guyana as one of the worst places to visit in the world. In an article, titled ‘Worst Places I’ve Ever Visited, From A Man Who Has Visited Everywhere,’ Abbamonte ranked Georgetown, Guyana behind Lagos, Nigeria; Luanda, Angola; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Karachi, Pakistan; and Juba, in South Sudan. Guyana was listed as the seventh country in a listing of 12 countries.
Abbamonte is said to be the youngest American to visit every country in the world. However, his ranking was based on one day spent in Guyana in December 2007.
In a post to the Yahoo Travel website, he described Guyana as a small little country next to Venezuela, and where the capital city, Georgetown, is dangerous and not nice at all. He wrote that he was told not to walk around at night.
In an invited comment, new President of the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) Shaun McGrath stated that the review by Abbamonte was not “credible and anyone who knows Guyana well would not say something like that.”
He stated that as a tour operator, who usually brings hundreds of tourists to Guyana every year, he has never received such a negative review from clients.
During his brief remarks at the launch of “Homecoming 2015,” McGrath stated, “I have frequently heard the uninformed say that Guyana is not ready for tourism… [that] Guyana has nothing to offer the tourist [and] we need to clean up the city before people can come. But the reality, however, is that tourism is happening right now in a very meaningful way!”
He added, “The fact is tourism is happening and many people in Guyana are just not aware of it.” He further noted that it would take joint efforts with all sectors to promote recognition of tourism in Guyana.
He indicated that the work has to start with children and along this line THAG plans to follow the example of Caribbean countries by developing tourism awareness in schools. He announced that THAG will be launching an essay competition for schools, with the topic, “Guyana-South America undiscovered.” The winners from both Primary and Secondary Schools will have their essays published in the Guyana Explore Magazine 2015.
McGrath also stated that THAG is planning to visit as many schools as possible in all the regions to show the “youths of Guyana that there is a future in tourism in Guyana.”
Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Ramesh Persaud said Guyana is a place of many unexplored opportunities, especially business opportunities and that he believed that it would bring the greatest contribution to the economy. Persaud congratulated the ministry for its launch and also pledged his support.
The ministry announced a packed month of activities to raise tourism awareness, which includes the launch of restaurant week, running from November 10 to 16, the launch of the Explore Guyana magazine and school talks. Tourism Awareness Month is being observed this year under the theme “Tourism entrepreneur and ambassadors mobilised.”
Meanwhile, Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) Indranauth Haralsingh, who also spoke at Friday’s launch, said the tourism sector is celebrating its every achievements while reflecting on its shortcomings. He noted that tourism has a tremendous potential in Guyana and thus the theme recognises the significant role entrepreneurs and tourism ambassadors have. He called them the “pulse of tourism.”
