Lines of Action needed in Guyana for a successful Sports Tourism industry were discussed yesterday in the Savannah Suite of the Pegasus Hotel during the first Sports Tourism Seminar/Workshop.
The historic occasion, which was a collaborative effort involving the Department of Tourism in the Ministry of Business and the National Sports Commission of the Department of Culture, Youth and Sport, saw keynote addresses from Sports Consultant, Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira, and Vincent Alexander, former Registrar of the University of Guyana and current Technical Facilitator within the Ministry Of Education.
Following the addresses, the invitees were placed into five groups and presentations were made.
Alexander noted that for Guyana to tap into the world of Sports Tourism on a grand scale, adequate facilities, organization capacity and human resources must be available to the target audience.
He stated there are challenges with all the above but in the interim “we need to plot the graph and see what resources we have and see what we have immediately to impact sports on one hand.”
He added that a critical area Guyana can explore “is to provide facilities for foreign teams during their off season since we are in the tropics and are blessed with good weather almost year round.”
Alexander, however, emphasized that for Guyana to make significant gains in Sports Tourism, there must be a seamless collaboration across the agencies to impact the activity since “Sports Tourism can be stymied if we don’t have good governing federations.”
In front of the gathering which included federation heads, members of the media and the government, Alexander concluded by stating “Out of the seminar we hope to see an outcome, a worthy venture. I hope we can put our heads together to make it happen.”
Perreira echoed Alexander’s sentiments on several occasions when he had the microphone, and also reiterated “I hope this won’t be a talk shop.
“This must not stop here. Everyone must play their own role,” said Perreira who was given the job to start St Lucia’s Sports Tourism.
Perreira also noted that there must be a place in the budget set aside for Sports Tourism despite the fact that the private sector will be playing a major role to fund the initiative. He also cautioned that the venture “will not be a one month-wonder” and will have to have an all hands on deck approach to be successful in order for Guyana to tap into the US$600 billion annual revenue for Sports Tourism worldwide.
“Let’s work together to get a bigger slice of the pie. We are sitting on a volcano,” said Perreira adding, “Guyana has tremendous potential for Sports Tourism.”
He then outlined several areas in which union and federation heads and other stakeholders can work together in order to lay the foundation for becoming a Sports Tourist destination which will benefit the economic growth of the country.
During the presentation of reports, the five groups came up with solutions for effectively marketing and promoting sport events. Identifying the main obstacles for hosting a successful Sport Tourism event in Guyana, stated the roles of tourism entities planning Sports Tourism events, the standard operating procedure for hosting visiting teams and the importance for Immigration, Customs, Police and Health Services.
Remarks were also made by Director General of Tourism, Donald Sinclair, representatives of the Guyana Tourism Authority, the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana and the National Sports Commission who all backed the initiative and subsequently pledged their support.
The Sports Tourism Seminar/Workshop was held under the theme “Improving Sports through Tourism; Growing Tourism Through Sports.”
