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Reply to "What is really needed to make tourism a success in Guyana?"

Drugb posted:

I tried to explain to caribj that Guyana's biggest crutch is that it does not have the blue water and white sand beaches.   

Jamaica and the DR are high crime places, worse than Guyana, so that isn't the issue.

Does Guyana have the potential to attract 500k visitors?  Of course not.  But if Dominica can attract 70k visitors based on being the "Nature Isle" I fail to see why Guyana cannot do at least that.  As of now if you back out returning Guyanese, and business people and islanders coming to visit friends and on rare moments watch international level cricket, we have maybe 10k annually.

Guyana has no tourist product packaged and ready to market. It takes a really committed person to pull together an itinerary and the few tour operators which offer Guyana price us considerably higher than they di Suriname. 

I saw an article in the NYT where a visitor came to Guyana for one week, but spent the entire time trying to get a tour into the interior organized.  The flights were canceled "because there weren't enough passengers", or because some big man decided to charter the plane to handle whatever illicit dealings that he was engaged in.

Guyanese need to go to Suriname and learn what they are doing, because Suriname has been able to attract 100k visitors, aside from overseas based Surinamers.  You actually see European tourists walking around P'bo.

Delta flew to Guyana and 90% of the passengers were Guyanese and the rest were on business, so the presence of a major carrier doesn't automatically mean anything.  If/when JetBlue comes they will fly in NY based Guyanese. Without a eco/adventure professional packaged product they aren't going to sell it.

Guyana can start by selling packages to Europeans who spend 2 weeks on Barbados, which is easily accessible to Guyana.  Despite what druggie thinks as people are more aware of melanoma spending the entire day on the beach is not seen as wise.  Barbados can get old quite quick as it is a small island, and adventurous types want something new to experience.

Guyana can package joint tours combined with Suriname.  In fact there is a market for a Guianas trip.

Guyana has a different product than the Caribbean.  We will never have a huge tourist industry, but to wail as Druggie does, as he hangs with his low class people who lurk in sterile tourist deserts like Punta Cana and Cancun, that Guyana can never have tourism is nonsense.

But of course we have destroyed much of our tourist product.  Look at P'bo with its well preserved cultural heritage present in its buildings.  Guyanese think "dat is old house" and tear it down and erect a monstrosities that threaten to put Guyana up at the top of the ladder for carbon emissions. This because of the tremendous costs to air condition these buildings which make sense in Toronto but NOT in Georgetown.

We no longer have a middle class who value aesthetics.  We have a bunch of low class money grubbers like Druggie who don't value Guyana's heritage, so we have lost it.  City Hall should be a heritage site.  Just now some one will demand to tear it down so that some 10 story monster can replace it, one with tiny windows, as if heating insulation is a problem for Guyana.  Likely a shopping mall so they can boast that they have elevators. This packed with more heart clogging food outlets.

In 1972 when we had Carifesta many came and admired Georgetown. Clean, beautiful with its uniquely Guyanese heritage reflected in its buildings. 

In 2017 what do they see but an ugly, and congested city.  The only consolation maybe that there aren't rotting bodies as there used to be 3 years ago.  At that time the prospect of a camoodie grabbing and eating a child wouldn't have been a surprise.

FM
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