THE TOURISM BUBBLE

Apr 16, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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I suppose it is understandable that in a year in which there were three mass massacres that visitor arrivals to Guyana would decline. That such a decline was only by five per cent should indicate to the authorities that there is a core market out there to which greater attention should be given.
For too long the attention has been on local hotels and other forms of investment in the industry. One of the major shortcomings of Guyana’s tourism drive is the tendency to try to mimic developments in other parts of the world and in the Caribbean where the emphasis is on filling hotels and promoting adventure and eco-tourism.
This has always been a false strategy and one that Guyana should shy away from copying.  Study after study has shown that the revenues from regional tourism end up, in the main, outside of the region, because the nature of the tourism product which is dependent on foreign owned airlines and hotels, which utilize food and materials sourced mainly from outside of the region.
Guyana is seeking to develop its long neglected tourism industry but has fallen into the trap of trying to go the route of the other countries of the region and have laid a great deal of stress on hotel construction and other infrastructure developments, particularly in the area of the law-volume eco tourism market.
At present, however, and despite what the authorities may be claiming, the hotel industry, inclusive of the local resorts, is now on the downward slide. One major resort closed its doors a long time ago; one other is up for sale and a major investment is also on the market. Others are likely to follow as the year ends and this despite the fact that next year can see a bumper number of visitor arrivals for the ICC World Twenty20 in which a number of matches are to be staged here.
Guyana needs a diversified tourism product but it should equally be mindful that the bulk of arrivals come from non-residents coming home or what is popularly known as family-based tourism. It should also take note of the large number of arrivals from the Caribbean. Even if those arrivals constitute mainly Guyanese returning home, it is a significant segment which should be tapped because these same Guyanese can encourage persons within the countries that they visit to come to see what Guyana is like. This segment of the market should thus be an important segment of marketing and promotional efforts.
More importantly though, what Guyana needs is not to concentrate so much on filling hotels. What Guyana needs to do is concentrate on that growing market of returning Guyanese because this has always been our largest source of visitor arrivals and the one that ensures that the revenues remain in Guyana. The economy of Guyana benefits far more if fifty persons stay at private homes within the country than if a similar number stay at a hotel, for reasons explained above and which is quite familiar to those who have studied regional tourism.
And this is why there needs to be greater understanding within the Ministry of Tourism as to what are the main concerns of non-resident Guyanese who wish to return home to spend time with family, friends and in their homeland.
One of the immediate concerns is the high cost of airfares. With the money that is spent just to come to Guyana, visitors from North America can go to another location and have an all-inclusive package for a couple of days. Guyana continues to license foreign airlines to come to Guyana in the hope that increased competition will bring down prices.
That strategy has failed and what Guyana needs to do is to arrange for the licensing of carriers with an agreed tariff schedule, one that would allow the carrier to make money while at the same time ensuring that airfares are kept low enough to encourage large scale arrivals.
The airline industry is very volatile but I am sure that better can be done to reduce airfares into and out of Guyana. The cost is much too high.
Hotel rates are also prohibitive. We do not have a five-star hotel in Guyana and yet five-star rates are charged for extremely poor standards.
Then there are the other factors such as crime and mosquitoes which serve as a disincentive for non-resident families to opt for Guyana for a vacation. Many Guyanese families in the Tri-State area, for example, would love to bring their families to Guyana for their vacation because it is so much more fun.
But they are worried about crime; they are worried what will happen should their children get sick; they cannot handle the mosquitoes and they are appalled at the high prices charged for basic things in Guyana.
These are the areas which the Ministry of Tourism cannot turn around overnight, but for which they can provide greater information and assurances to Guyanese living overseas.
These Guyanese should be given more information as to the medial services available in Guyana, because many of them still feel that health care is a problem. They need to know what is being done about crime and they need to be told that there is cheap bottled water available for their kids.

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