Of course, those "one-off" marketing efforts pale into insignificance beside the planned and sustained marketing programmes put in place by other countries including, for example, Barbados and Jamaica in the Caribbean. On the other hand the fact of the matter is that Ms. Anandjit's department does not possess a budget anywhere near the size necessary to pursue the kind of expensive product promotion initiative that is increasingly in evidence in the highly competitive industry of tourism.

Ms. Anandjit's recommendation that we establish marketing "outposts" at strategically important overseas locations is a sound idea that has worked for other Caribbean countries seeking to promote their tourism product in the lucrative markets of North America and Europe. The problem with that recommendation, of course, is that it would probably secure as much favour with the authorities - at least in the immediate term - as the recommendation of some years ago that permanent trade and investment promotion desks be established in our overseas missions.

Of course, being a "new kid" on the tourism "block" we would have to work that much harder to sell what have to offer in a market where the competition is fierce and as Ms. Anandjit correctly points out the present configuration of international air travel and the inherent difficulties of travelling to and from Guyana poses an additional challenge in our quest to woo tourists here.

But it is not only the external dimension to the marketing of Guyana's tourism product that poses a challenge. The domestic ramifications are just as important. If the truth be told - and unlike in other countries where tourism has become a highly successful industry - we have not really succeeded in selling the tourism product at home. Granted, we are known for our innate hospitality as a people but it will take much more than our welcoming nature to create a climate in which tourism can flourish.

With Cricket World Cup now a matter of less than four months away it is clear that our hospitality infrastructure remains far from prepared for an experience of that magnitude and that that preparation is likely to prove more challenging than in Barbados or Jamaica, for example, which have a long history of receiving and providing for tourists. Of course the state of our capital and our major towns is a well-worn issue and on the available evidence one can only conclude that the various municipal authorities are simply not seized of the nexus between selling our tourism product and maintaining a basic sense of sanitation and good order in areas where tourists are likely to visit.