Tourism authority to launch politeness campaign soon
Stabroek News
June 18, 2003
The planned ‘Good Manners Campaign’ is to be launched soon by the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA).
According to GTA’s Executive Director, Donald Sinclair the programme should kick off within the next six to eight weeks and would target primary and secondary school children, public sector offices, drivers and pedestrians. Details of the campaign are being finalised.
Sinclair also says he is heartened by the response to invitations for all tourism and tourism-related establishments to become registered with the authority.
In an interview on the progress of the recently established authority, Sinclair told Stabroek News that “entities have responded well” and the GTA was still open to registration of those who had not registered.
Owners of hotels, guest houses, lodges, resorts, bars and restaurants, tour operations, travel agencies, airlines, catering establishments, petrol stations, taxi services, craft shops, jewellery stores, groceries and supermarkets are among the entities that have completed and returned registration forms.
The GTA was formed in October and Sinclair said it was now recruiting staff for the secretariat. The GTA has two persons in place, himself and administrative assistant, Chauncy McAlmont.
The authority is advertising for the posts of marketing manager, administrative officer and finance officer.
It is also talking with mainstream and related tourism establishments, which provide services to the industry, in an effort to monitor and improve their services.
Stressing the importance of training and awareness, Sinclair said that Guyanese need to understand what tourism was about, how it could benefit the economy and what role they could play.
The GTA has a number of tasks including the key responsibility for marketing Guyana as a tourism destination; product development; tourism awareness; and training for frontline staff/operatives for the industry.
Licensing and regulations are also required as the GTA moves to establish standards for the industry in keeping with the legislation.
Sinclair said that many individuals had indicated their willingness to assist in the area of marketing. This included individuals and international agencies such as the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Caribbean Tourism Organisation.
While the broad objective of the GTA was to develop tourism in Guyana, he noted that a number of responsibilities were shared between other key stakeholders such as the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce and the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana. The ministry is responsible for policy and planning, some amount of training and some site and infrastructure development.
He noted that there would be overlap in some areas but projects would be co-ordinated.
