Dear Editor,
For me, Guyana is a really extraordinary country but one that is neglected for various reasons. The majority of the blame I personally put on the Administration that got elected by the people of Guyana to govern properly. Some tried and some got stymied by others and, in the end, Guyana suffers tremendously.
Every country tried various methods to develop itself, utilising what is available locally and the most successful means; that is rapidly increasing its tourism. From all indications and my humble opinion, Guyana does not seem to be even preparing to enter that race.
Looking at many other countries and the way they promote themselves, I believe if Guyana is to do the same, we would be a far way in the tourism race. The little pickings that enter Guyana is comical but given the amount in the past, it seems to be sufficient reason for them to lay back and celebrate.
Tourism offers many forms of benefits, including employment, increased spending in communities, marketing for our produce/products, development of communities, opportunities, etc, but why more concentration is not being given there boggles my mind. There’s no worthy preparation taking place to motivate tourists to visit Guyana, except a few relatives and friends returning and being classed as tourists.
There is an abundance of wildlife, awesome sceneries too numerous to mention, adventures to experience; but incredibly, Guyana cannot be marketed to attract tourists. Apart from attracting visitors from other countries, there seems to be no leverage for locals to visit tourist attraction sites throughout Guyana. The cost does not change for locals and that is bad because when you ask someone living in Guyana about certain places in Guyana, they cannot answer. This is because they have never visited and chances are they cannot afford to, even though they are interested in going. There should be some flexibility for people living here that would give them the opportunities to visit places and I’m quite sure they will assist greatly in marketing/promoting Guyana freely, using the various social media sites.
Editor, recently I visit Lake Mainstay in Essequibo and, as usual, I was just in awe at the location, the design and the views going there. Going to the resort, you’ll see small villages before reaching and I do not see anything on display that would attract tourists like art, craft, etc.
One of the biggest sore points that is hampering that resort is the road to reach the resort. It is in such a deplorable condition that it would deter anyone in just a few minutes from leaving the public road. As it is now, it takes almost one hour to reach Lake Mainstay from the Anna Regina main road.
It would appear that resources allocated to this location are being stifled.
Sincerely,
Sahadeo Bates
