Whenever, over several decades, the idea of Guyana becoming a ‘tourism haven’ has arisen, the idea was frequently doused with cold water, not on account of the country’s lack of credentials to support a tourism sector, but on account of ‘excuses’ that were underpinned by a mix of ideological idiocy and refusal to accept that what we saw as the grandeur that was associated with tourism in other parts of the world could not possibly be replicated here. ‘Ideological’ refusal to visualize hospitality workers serving cocktails to tourists on sandy beaches as a valuable part of the tourist economy was, in some respects, the legacy of an inferiority complex which our colonial past had made difficult for our indigenous leaders to stomach.
Times have changed and these days the country’s tourism ministry is waxing warm about envisaged undertakings that will transform part of the interior into luxury locations that will help banish the banality of urban life from public consciousness. Where an exception will be made, it will be on account of Tourism Minister Oneidge Walrond’s current excitable ‘marketing’ of the various hotels which she appears to feel will, over time, help positively transform the country’s capital. Still, Guyana is well ‘behind time’ with its tourism ‘tra la la.’ Oil has been the ‘party pooper’, the major finds from 2015 onwards and the consequential attention which ‘black gold’ drew to the country brought visitors here from all parts of the world.
For reasons associated primarily with ‘getting rich’ quick, the country’s tourism sector has still not been able to get out of the blocks. It is, however, much too late for expressions of regret now. For what it is worth, tourism must be sculpted from the upheaval that comes with cataclysmic change. The latest ‘scoop’ that ‘Guyana is on its way to achieving 2000 hotel rooms by 2025’ is more of a sensational ‘tag line’ than anything even remotely resembling a ‘dead sure’ promise. That is the way we have become. If the dream is to be kept alive, sensationalism must ‘trump everything.’ When the time comes, we will find some appropriate way to explain/justify the extension that will probably be required to finish the job.
Two thousand rooms in less than a year – given all the various other distractions that obtain – is almost certainly what we in Guyana usually refer to as ‘a stretch.’ Not that that should have prevented the Tourism Minister from doing her recent walkabout, “inspecting works” at the “boutique-style edifice” that is the Robb and Oronoque Streets’ Aiden Hotel that is currently being built. The reality is that we are simply going to have to live with the anomalies that have become part of an unfolding pattern, assured in the knowledge that come hell or high water, we are ‘getting there.’
“The contractors have assured us that by May this project will be completed,” is what the Tourism Minister reportedly said upon completion of her recent inspection. Our only response here is that while we are in no way dismissive of the assurances given by the contractors, we believe that we are altogether entitled to the view that Minister Walrond is pushing her luck. Meeting deadlines is not an accustomed trait of local contractors. Mind you, The Stabroek Business, like the Minister, sincerely wish that that the Aiden and the various other edifices of its kind will be ready on time for this year’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL) cricket tournament though we strongly suspect that some of our contractors are likely to ‘fluff’ their timelines.
But Minister Walrond can hardly afford to do nothing more than to see the Aiden through to the end. As the saying goes, she has other equally big fish to fry… like how to get that icon of local tourism, the Rupununi Rodeo, to work for the investors in the event and how to ‘fix’ the Agri Expo in such a way that it not only assumes a more eye-catching overtone but also that the Agro Processors ‘make money.’ Tourism, we know she is aware, is not only a decorative mechanism. It is a business. Then there is Mash! We are told by officialdom that last year’s returning Guyanese and visitors numbered 319,056 persons, “a record-breaking total” we were informed. The authorities went further, describing those numbers as “a clear testimony to the growth of the tourism and hospitality sectors.”
That, decidedly, without the necessary probe, could well be far from true. Still, and leaving aside those who would force or even distort the issue, the portents are promising. ‘Mash’ and our usual oil and gas fora, will bring their own batches of visitors and these two events will provide the country’s ‘new look’ tourism effort with the first real test of its mettle.
