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.