By Miranda La Rose
Stabroek News
May 31, 2001

Government is willing to consider every concession in the book to boost the tourism industry provided the projects are pioneering investments.

This means, President Bharrat Jagdeo said, that the government would allow the sale of land at nominal value to build hotels and grant duty-free concessions for all building materials and furnishing. However, he added "I am not going to consider an investment where the investment is $15 million and the duty-free concession applied for is $15 million, too. Then it fails and all the materials go to individual interests."

Delivering the main address at the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana's (THAG) Tenth Annual General Meeting at Le Meridien Pegasus last evening, Jagdeo said that he was willing to meet the THAG executive along with Chief Executive Officer of Go-Invest, Geoffrey Da Silva, during the coming week to work out what had to be put in place to get the sector moving.

He said that government was aware of some of what was needed -- especially legislation -- but promised that as soon as the constitutional reform and the amendments to the constitution had been put place, priority would be given to tourism legislation.

As soon as the tourism legislation was enacted, which he emphasised would be shortly, government would set up the tourism board and put more money into the industry. He also promised that "very shortly" he was going to name a minister who would be responsible for industry and tourism.

Noting that since the establishment of THAG, the focus had been on studies and consultancies on the potential of the industry, Jagdeo said that with strategies already developed energy should now be devoted to aggressively pursuing capital outside the local economy.

While the sector needed funding, Jagdeo cited the example of the government's attempt to secure financing from the World Bank for the National Protected Areas System (NPAS) which led to a small group lobbying the bank to withhold funds on the grounds that Amerindian rights would be affected. He said that he had not heard a word of support from the tourism sector for the government's position.

In terms of investment in the tourism/travel industry, he said that now the airline industry had wonderful opportunities for the private sector especially as there was practically a monopoly on international travel in and out of the country by the regional airline BWIA. There was need for cheaper airfares, he said.

He said he recognised that the private sector was experiencing some problems, but these might be due to one or a combination of problems including incompetence in management, cost of capital and political tensions.

In spite of all these problems, he said, he was not absolving government of blame because it must also be held culpable as it tended to be bureaucratic and slow.

Noting that the tourism product was fickle, Jagdeo said that unless there was political stability "all the money that we spend every year on the industry, all the wonderful marketing jobs we build for long sustained periods, could be undone in one day." News, he said, travelled like lightning on the internet and not all of it was true.

The country, he said, had to deal with the issue of political stability because instability would not only adversely affect tourism but investments in general.

Also addressing the gathering, which included members of the diplomatic community, THAG President Gerry Gouveia noted that the United Nations had designated next year the `International Year for Eco-Tourism' to foster and promote the growth of the industry.

This, Gouveia said, provided a challenge to local operators to improve on the product, given that eco-tourism was the main feature was seeking to market.

In a brief overview, eco-tourism marketing consultant based in Suriname, Lindan Toole said that eco-tourism had the qualities of being environmentally and culturally responsible. However, she said, she had observed local operators offering eco-tours and at the end of a tour dumping their garbage in the very river they had just traversed.

She said that there were also operators who were culturally insensitive to some communities, such as not taking the time to understand the indigenous peoples.