Local tourism awareness plan should have three-pronged approach
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Local tourism awareness plan should have three-pronged approach
- CTO Headby Linda Rutherford
Guyana Chronicle
May 21, 2000
SECRETARY-General of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), Mr Jean Holder warned Friday that for all its vast tourism potential, all will not be plain sailing for Guyana, given the difficulty of marketing this product.
Addressing the more than 200-strong gathering at the opening of the Fourth Annual Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development at Le Meridien Pegasus, Holder said: "Selling tourism as a development sector has not always been easy, even for countries rich in the traditional resources of sand and sea".
A 25-year veteran in the industry, Holder said he has often had occasion to describe tourism as an "invasive industry", one which needs quite a high level of physical and even psychological adjustment.
In order to mobilise the necessary investment resources at both the public and private sector levels, he said, Guyana needs, at the very least, to adopt a three-pronged tourism awareness strategy.
The first element of this strategy, he said, will be for the government, and not just the Ministry of Tourism, to demonstrate its belief in Guyana's tourism potential by investing adequate human and financial resources in tourism development.
Noting that the industry can neither take off by itself as is commonly thought, nor should its direction be left entirely to the private sector, Holder said "it is critical that [the] government understands and establishes the regulatory framework within which tourism development best takes place".
The second aspect of the awareness plan, he said, was to provide the public with relevant information so as to enable it to share the vision of a bright future for the country in tourism and to make the necessary adjustments in delivering service of the highest quality.
Tourism, he observed, cannot prosper without the blessing of the population, and "this, ultimately, they will not give, unless tourism can be seen to convey some blessings on them in return".
Thirdly, Holder said, information about the tourism resources of Guyana will have to be effectively communicated by both the public and private sectors to the marketplace. On top of living in an information age, he said, we are also involved in an industry which operates on the cutting edge of technology. As such, he said, one needs the skills and the tools with which to participate meaningfully in what is one of the world's most competitive sectors.
Earlier in his presentation, Holder had publicly commended the steadfastness with which Guyana has committed itself to hosting this year's caucus despite severe criticism in some quarters about its ability to bring it off.
He had also given his vote of confidence in the ability of new Trade, Tourism and Industry Minister, Mr Geoffrey Da Silva, to perform just as creditably as his predecessor, the late Mr Michael Shree Chan.
"Let me begin by publicly acknowledging the sustained efforts of Former Minister of Tourism of Guyana, the Hon. Michael Shree Chan...Director of Tourism, Ms Tessa Fraser and ...other private sector colleagues....[in] launching this conference in Guyana".
"They stuck with it in spite of all the various challenges which presented themselves and at a time when there was not, generally speaking, a high level of confidence that Guyana, given its traditional economic orientation could credibly host a tourism event," Holder said.
Noting that the torch which was lit around 1997, when the idea was first mooted, was "fully aflame today", Holder said: "I have already seen Minister Da Silva in action at our New York meeting in March, and have every reason to believe he will build on the firm foundations of his predecessor and run the race to its successful conclusion".
Much more than a conference, Holder saw the four-day CTO conference as a turning point in the annals of Guyana's fledgling tourism industry. The industry officially got off the ground way back in 1991 with the formation of the then Tourism Association of Guyana (TAG), now Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG).
"This event which takes place here today is ...more than a conference. It constitutes, in my opinion, the launching of the Guyana tourism industry," the CTO official said.
To him it was a "proclamation to the world that Guyana is serious about claiming its place among those Caribbean countries which offer a competitive tourism product, but not in the enormous potential which Guyana has for socio-economic development through tourism".
