More holistic approach needed for a "mature" tourist destination …Paul
Stabroek News, Friday, January 4th 2008
2008 could be breakthrough year in "creek" tourism
Guyana's tourism sector must move towards a more "holistic orientation"
in 2008 if there is to be any significant qualitative improvement in
the country's tourism product, according to Executive Director of the
Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) Maureen Paul.
"The point has long been reached where we need to disabuse ourselves of
the idea that the tourism industry is simply about our resorts and our
hotels. It is in fact the entire country and all of its institutions
that comprise the tourism sector," Paul told Stabroek Business.
Paul said that while she was not underestimating the importance of
Guyana being represented at trade fairs she was concerned that the
promotional opportunities resulting from those trade fairs are
converted into a capacity to accommodate visitors to the country.
Paul told Stabroek Business that if Guyana is to develop to the level
of a "mature" tourist destination it must - as is the practice in
countries that offer a tourism product - engage in forward planning. In
tourism planning projections are usually made a minimum of four years
ahead and when you talk about projections, those projections usually
embrace a whole range of things including hotels, transportation and
human resources."
Paul said that in her view insufficient attention was being paid to
developing a "holistic approach" to the tourism sector. "My point here
is that whenever an important decision is made in the country, the
decision-makers must contemplate the implications for the tourism
sector.
Paul said that she was also concerned that more emphasis be placed on
marketing Guyana's tourism product abroad in 2008. She said that the
Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) the state agency responsible for
marketing Guyana's tourism product continued to be underfunded and
lacking the human resources to pursue its mandate effectively.
Asked whether she felt that the surfeit of hotels that had been built
and renovated last year was a positive development for the tourist
industry Paul said that while she felt that that was the case the
challenge facing the operators was to develop strategies for marketing
those hotels effectively.
According to Paul countries like Guyana and Suriname were now
benefiting from a higher quality of promotion by the Caribbean Tourism
Organisation (CTO) which she said had in the past been focussing
disproportionately on promotion the island territories of the region.
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