Tourism Awareness Month…Courtesy, standards, security needed to promote tourism-THAG

Nov 03, 2012 News

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The growth of tourism as an industry produces significant benefits to a country’s economic development in a number of ways, including income generation, employment opportunities, and social and cultural transformation, according to chair of Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) Marketing Committee, Shaun McGrath.
These sentiments were shared at the launch of Tourism Awareness Month, Wednesday, at the Mangrove Heritage Site, Cove and John, East Coast Demerara.

In attendance were President Donald Ramotar; Minister of Tourism Irfaan Ali; President of the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (ag) Daniel Gajie; Director of Tourism Authority Indranauth Haralsingh; members of the diplomatic corps and other special invitees.
The Explore Guyana 2013 was also launched under the theme “Re-Discover Home”; this is the 13th edition of the magazine and the 11th with our current publishers, AMS Limited.
Chair of THAG Marketing Committee, Shaun McGrath, explained that since tourism is a service-based industry, it can be quite intangible and more difficult to market than tangible goods. The use of appropriate promotional campaigns and materials targeted to a global audience or a specific segment of society can boost the tourism industry of a country with remarkable results.  This belief is what led to the creation of Explore Guyana many years ago.
“The customs and charm of a particular tourist spot or a whole country can be magnified and made known through the right media. The development of suitable advertising and marketing materials is vital in creating this awareness within a target audience.
Moreover, tourism is an industry where the customer must travel to the product instead of the other way around. Since the need to travel is a major factor in people’s decisions on whether or not to visit a country, tourism-related businesses, agencies, government and organizations need to work together to package and promote tourism opportunities and align their efforts to assure consistency in product quality.” McGrath underscored.
Adding that promotional materials can hugely impact an audience’s perception of a certain region, country or community, McGrath noted that over the last 12 years, every edition of Explore Guyana has helped chip away the negative impression of Guyana by promoting the country as a land of tropical rainforest, sprawling savannahs, mystic mountains, monster rivers, spectacular bird, wild life and a friendly welcoming and hospitable people.
“Explore Guyana has successfully played an important part in the work that is being done to promote Guyana as a beautiful, interesting and exciting travel destination. The increasing number of people who are travelling to Guyana to experience our unique product are testament to this fact.”
By creating awareness and altering an audience’s perception of a certain place through a consistent advertising and marketing campaign, McGrath said that desire is awakened and stimulated, and as such the specific target market is more likely to want to travel to the area, explore its promises, and gain a unique experience that they can treasure forever.
An important task of advertising and marketing is to constantly stimulate this desire, creating a sense of need for the target audience to travel to the area and soak up its diverse offerings.
“Over the last three editions of Explore, a policy decision was made to make the magazine more of a holiday brochure, in order to stimulate this desire for Guyana.”
“Even though Explore Guyana is always distributed free of charge, the cover is what draws the reader in and is an important feature of the publication.  Explore Guyana has a reputation for having dramatic and stunning covers…
“This year is no exception and our cover feeds into the theme of this year’s magazine which is “A Haven For Nature” taken by the internationally renowned photographer James Broscombe. It shows a Humming Bird feeding her young and is guaranteed to further enhance the reputation of the magazine and indeed Guyana.
“The printing process used for the front cover uses a new cutting edge technology called Liquid Aqueous Coating and Explore is the first publication in the Caribbean to use this new feature. You will notice that the humming bird, its hatchling, the branches and the trees are raised giving a 3-D effect to the image.”
Explore Guyana has become an important source of revenue for THAG. This revenue has grown over the years as the magazine has become more and more attractive to advertisers.

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