Dear Editor,
About two weeks ago I was asked by THAG to judge an essay competition under the theme, ‘Guyana South America Undiscovered,’ along with fellow judges Dr Steve Surujbally, writer Sharon Maas, and tour operator/property manager Andrea Salvador-de Caires.
At the awards ceremony and launch of the current issue Explore Guyana magazine, there was a great deal of camaraderie and a commitment towards inclusiveness at an event that featured presentations by yours truly, AFC Chairman Nigel Hughes in his capacity as MC, and the Minister of Tourism Irfaan Ali. Mr Hughes was extremely generous in praising the Minister’s energy and effectiveness, while on his part the Minister should be commended for his statesmanship in focusing on the industry and its need for development, underscoring the government’s commitment to the sector without coming across as jingoistic or electioneering. I spoke about the need for investing in the arts as a means of aiding in the marketing of tourism, in addition to some other comments relevant to the industry. The only serious mention of politics, outside of Hughes’ witticisms, was from Dr Surujbally, wearing his hat of Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, who put out a general appeal to let the commission do its work without unfair and misdirected attempts at intervention.
It is against this backdrop that I am utterly disappointed in the tone and reactionary speculation of THAG’s recent press release condemning a spoof of a video put out by the organization in collaboration with the ministry. The statement appears to come not from an autonomous industry umbrella organization cognizant of the need for a nuanced PR response, but straight out Freedom House with its combative and accusatory rhetoric, ascribing some sinister political motive to what is essentially citizen commentary. Real Guyana, as far as I know it, is the effort of a single person, a young Guyanese with legitimate political concerns but with no partisan political loyalty or intent.
THAG noticeably avoids comment on the two actual videos produced and promoted on the ‘Tourism Guyana’ Facebook page. Both were poorly produced in terms of cinematography, music, general audio reproduction, editing, narration, presentation and writing. Both feature Minister Ali, a senior public servant with no experience in media, theatre or as advertising voice over talent, awkwardly spouting a purple spiel about Guyana’s lure, one that moves between grandiloquent uber-exaggeration to clichéd and bland Wikipedia-type statistics. The videos were shamefully presented as they were on social media, but I have at least one account of them also being aired on a Caribbean Airlines flight. If THAG and the ministry were comfortable with or confident in the two productions, they should not only have left them up but actively promoted them.
Neither THAG nor the ministry has a lease on Guyana or a monopoly on its representation. These videos were either paid for directly by state funds or funds awarded to the state presumably for the benefit of its citizens. When it is that citizens see their country being embarrassingly represented it is their right to respond in whatever way they see fit, whether it is direct critical commentary or ironic spoof.
Now, as to the way forward. During my brief presentation at the THAG event I made the point that the marketing of tourism has to come out of a policy position that is grounded in an overarching cultural and creative industries policy environment.
Tourism is basically the commercial exploitation of interaction with and consumption of our tangible and intangible heritage – people come to interact with the people, observe the physical environment and eat the food we have to offer.
Our tourism drive however has traditionally focused on developing the physical properties and direct services such as transportation and food. A critical lacuna continues to exist in engaging our creative people either directly within their own forms of expression or as service providers to the industry. No visitor can come here and be guaranteed a regularly scheduled theatrical or dance performance or poetry reading or standing artistic exhibit.
I will also repeat something else I said at the THAG event: tourism policy and praxis need to be developed and executed via a multisectoral approach which involves the ministries with portfolio responsibility for Tourism, Culture and Education. The problem with making this a reality however comes as a result of a vicious territoriality on the part of state agencies, and a stubborn resistance to external inputs by competent people. I’ll cite the Caribbean Press – Dr Frank Anthony’s complete lack of accountability notwithstanding – as one casualty of that resistance to both complementarity in ministerial action plans as well as to external inputs. Done properly, the Press could right now have been collaborating with the Ministry of Education to produce textbooks for both local use as well as for use in the wider Caribbean, something I suggested years ago.
I understand that tourism is a precarious industry with as many tremendous possibilities of collapse as there are for growth. I also understand that many people in the industry are there out of love of the country and at their own entrepreneurial risk. But conveniently labelling a citizen or citizens as politically motivated and unpatriotic, irrespective of one’s views on the spoof video, does not solve the fundamental problem – poor accountability and value-for-money in the expenditure of tourism promotion dollars, resistance to a multisectoral approach to promotion, and a failure to construct an inclusive marketing programme that makes use of local creative talent on the basis of merit. That status quo, more than any single spoof video is what is going to continue to stymie the much-needed marketing of our tourism industry.
My final suggestion. I am by no means a fan of Mr Ali, nor am I of his government. That said, the character he showed at the THAG event, the willingness to listen and include, might be something he should sustain and provide as an example of leadership within the industry. If he does that, even his most strident critics – myself included – would be willing to engage for the good of the sector.
Yours faithfully,
Ruel Johnson
Janus Cultural Policy Initiative
