There is a problem for vacation seekers

Jun 08, 2008 Editorial

Guyanese pay more for gasoline than most people in the United States. They do not work for United States dollars, which are traded at just over $200 in local currency to a single United States dollar, but most of those who drive actually do so with the kind of abandon usually reserved for rich people.

Over the past few years, more and more Guyanese with some money to spend have been purchasing larger and larger vehicles, all of which are notorious fuel guzzlers. Imagine working for less than a North American counterpart, but spending more on fuel even when the North American counterpart is complaining.

The situation is such that the makers of these large vehicles have actually closed some of the plants and have laid off people. The focus is on smaller cars and mopeds.

Guyanese are complaining about the high fuel prices and the impact it is having on the economy. The administration notes, with some chagrin, that it is spending a significant portion of its gross domestic product on fuel, mainly for the energy sector. Whatever revenue it earns by way of taxes on the energy consumption by the general public surely cannot compensate.

And to make matters worse, the revenue is collected in local currency while the purchases must be done in a currency that is convertible. The Guyana dollar is not convertible.

In some poor countries, the Government would have been moving to curtail fuel use by restricting the types of vehicles that could have been imported. Guyana, at one time, adopted a similar course of action; the administration restricted the importation of vehicles larger than 1.6 litres.

This past week the price of gasoline reached the $1,000 mark, and this is reason to panic because the hard-pressed people are going to be asked to pay more for transportation. It is going to take a lot of persuading to prevent the minibuses from charging more.

But there is more to the crisis. Food is becoming increasingly expensive, and people’s earnings are not moving at a rate to compensate for such increases. The Government is spearheading a campaign to have people grow just about any food, and the success of this campaign would depend on the extent to which people feel that they cannot afford to sit idly by and depend on the farmers, who bring produce from the rural areas.

And what about the holiday travellers? Guyana has a reputation as a migrant country. It was designed that way by the colonial rulers. Our students studied for jobs overseas, and those who did not do as well were the people expected to fill the vacancies in Guyana.

It is for this reason that senior public servants were afforded money to travel overseas on vacation. Their predecessors did, and when the local acceded to their positions, they enjoyed the benefits. Others followed suit, and today many families travel overseas on vacation. Some send their children.

Given the rising prices, one wonders whether this trend would continue this year. For one, the cost of air travel has risen astronomically, and with the other increases, people are finding that their disposable incomes are dwindling.

It is for this reason that many countries have holiday resorts. Jamaica reduces the rates at its hotels for its residents during the vacation season. Barbados has a similar programme, although it would exclude its own people if the demand is greater for the overseas visitors.

The Government has been talking about tourism, and one gets the impression that the tourism as advertised is for the foreigner. It is time that measures are put in place for the people of this country, who often took their money and spent it overseas, to be made to do the same here.

Guyana has many pleasant spots that could rival many of the overseas spots. It might be a good thing for the Government to concentrate on developing resorts to make its people stay at home. This is the case in the developed world. Perhaps the campaign could be labelled “Developing Guyana”.

And there are many parts of the country that Guyanese do not know, and there are many locations that would make them realize that there is no need to spend the kind of money being demanded to visit foreign climes.

And what is a vacation but a change of occupation and domicile?

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