Guyana to market own tourism product - will cease to pay marketing fees to Caribbean Tourism Organization by Miranda La Rose Stabroek News March 27, 2000 Government plans to cease paying fees to the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) for marketing Guyana's tourism product but will continue to pay its membership dues to the regional body. Minister of Trade, Tourism and Industry, Geoffrey Da Silva made the disclosure at the Eighth Annual General meeting of the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) at the Main Street Plaza Hotel last week. Noting that Guyana had been paying substantial amounts of money to the CTO over a number of years for marketing the local tourism product, Da Silva said that "all Guyana gets is a little space or would be lucky to get one page" in the CTO's publications. Instead of paying the marketing fees to the CTO, Da Silva said, the plan was to market Guyana's tourism product in collaboration with the private sector. This announcement was greeted with a round of applause by THAG members. Ministry staff must produce results Responding to charges that tour operators here had been losing out because funding which was available had not been expedited by the ministry as facilitator, Da Silva admitted that there was a lot of "grant money" out there to jump start the industry in marketing, training and other aspects, but that the ministry had failed. He said there was no doubt that his ministry had to be more aggressive in its efforts to get the industry moving, whilst noting that the Organisation of American States, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the European Union were among major funders. "Our staff at the ministry has to get up and get," he said, adding that "if they cannot pull their weight after a period of time has elapsed they will have to leave. We have to see results." He admitted that Guyana had been slow in responding to offers and in taking advantage of opportunities available for human resource development in the industry. Cuba had offered training in the hospitality industry, an offer which Guyana was now reviewing. In terms of how the Guyanese economy could benefit or had benefited from tourism, Da Silva said that Guyana would be looking at the Barbados satellite model which gave an indication of the revenue generated exclusively from the industry. Guyana was yet to determine how much revenue was garnered from visitors to the country on a yearly basis. Image Stating that the country had been getting a lot of negative or frivolous publicity in international and regional publications, he said that Guyana had to go about its marketing with a positive approach. Giving examples, he alleged that a BWIA 2000 inflight magazine had given frivolous coverage and the Toronto Star had done damaging reporting, and that as a consequence a local tour operator was taking action against the writer and the newspaper. The Guyana Government, he said, was backing the local tour operator in the case against the writer and the newspaper. Owing to the fact that Guyana was a small country, some may want to exaggerate and write as they feel, he said, but "there comes a point where they will have to think again." Stressing that THAG will have to keep a focus on a whole new image of Guyana, he said that at present many people, including Guyanese residing overseas, contributed to the negative image. Three main issues had to be dealt with and these were the perception that the country had nothing to offer, it was too expensive and that there was crime. While negative reports were being fed about Guyana in the region and overseas, he said, he had met many Jamaicans, Barbadians and other Caribbean persons who had come to Guyana and "were shocked" to have enjoyed themselves after they had heard negative things about the country. Societies more violent than Guyana's, and rocked by riots, have not had drastic reductions in visitor arrivals because of the image and marketing strategies of those countries. With this in mind, Da Silva said that if we did not address the issue of Guyana's image, then no matter how much marketing was done the country would get nowhere with the industry. He referred to a report prepared by AJ Seymour in 1959 for the development of tourism, mapping out possible areas as tourist attractions. At present the Guyana Defence Force is engaged in a mapping exercise for a similar purpose. Environment Pointing out the need for all key players to come together and look at the environment, Da Silva expressed some disappointment that Guyana did not have a National Protected Area System (NPAS). The IDB has withheld funding for the NPAS because of a number of concerns expressed by the Amerindians. Noting that he did not feel that the position taken by the Amerindians was wrong, he said that there were international organisations which funded and guided the Amerindian organisations. He noted that areas affected in particular were the Mazaruni and the Rupununi. He advised that THAG and the private sector should sit with the Amerindians and work together on the issue of the protection of the environment. Stating that the tourism association could not be silent on the issue, he said that "this is a sensitive issue. We need to find a way to work with the Amerindians. Government alone cannot do it. If we do not address the issues of the Amerindian, the Protected Areas System [will be stalled]." Referring to protected areas in Suriname, he said that the neighbouring country had just received US$1 million through the auspices of Conservation International (CI) for three protected areas. CI at present did not have an office in Suriname - its office was based in Guyana. In addition the European Union was funding a major eco-tourism plan for Suriname. The region Noting that Guyana could learn from the experiences of other countries where tourism played a major role in their economies, Da Silva said that Guyana would be represented at a major tourism exposition in Cuba in June. Da Silva also stated that the prospects of regional tourism were queried at the last Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Council on Trade and Economic Development (COTED) of CARICOM. The future of tourism in the region was discussed regularly among the CTO members on a regular basis, he said. He said that in the Caribbean where tourism was a major revenue earner many people did not appreciate what was happening because the returns were not widely distributed among the country's population. In addition, he said, travel agents in the region faced a dull future as many tourists had begun to book their travel via the internet. As such, COTED had mandated Caribbean tourism ministers to meet and discuss the issue before its next meeting in June. This tourism ministers meeting, Da Silva said, would be held in May prior to the start of the CTO Conference on Sustainable Tourism, also in May.