What tourists?

Lusignan massacre/ Bartica slaughter…
No evidence travel advisories affecting tourist
arrivals - Prashad (Today's KN)

By Leonard Gildarie

The Guyana Government has said that it is too early to judge whether the travel warnings issued by the United States, Canada and United Kingdom are having any drastic effects on tourist arrivals.
Speaking with the media during a break at Parliament yesterday, Tourism Minister Manniram Prashad urged the embassies to exercise caution when issuing advisories, since they are highly likely to have detrimental effects on the very countries which are being assisted with developmental aid and grants.
Following the February 17 slaughter in Bartica by heavily armed gunmen, which left 12 dead, including three policemen, the US Department of State, Canadian Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and British Foreign and Commonwealth Offices all issued advisories warning their citizens to stay away from a few trouble spots in Guyana.
Yesterday, the Minister acknowledged that travel advisories do some amount of damage, but he contended that there is no immediate evidence to suggest that tourist arrivals have been severely affected. He pointed out that around this time there is normally a lull, but travel is expected to pick up for the upcoming Easter weekend....Blah, Blah, Blah.


Guyana360: Mr. Leonard Gildarie seems to think he is still living in that tourist friendly Caribbean island of St. Martin. Hello! this is Guyana, beautiful Guyana that is still struggling to attract tourists. This story tickles the laugh sensors and is indicative of the poor level of reasoning in the media brotherhood. Those travel advisories do not influence travel by US, Canadian and British citizens. They just don't visit Guyana in the droves as suggested by the President's King pimp, Manniram Prashad. So putting two and two together, something cannot change something that just don't exist. Mr. Gildarie didn't even think of soliciting views from the other players in the tourism industry, but instead the king pimp just feeds him a good dose of garbage.
However, our aim is not to bash any reporter, that is the job of the folks over at livinguyana. The Minister may be right, those advisories will not influence arrivals in anyway. The damage to tourism was done a long time ago and this Government knows fully well hence the low budgetary allocation to the sector. We will always support the squashing of the ministerial post and the appointment of a qualified tourism adviser with regional experience.