Dear Editor,
One of the major industries in Guyana will be tourism. Many of its aspects have to do with Amazonian trekking, bird watching, mountainous jungle hikes, fresh water fishing, brown water beaches, natural health cures using natural salt water and our mineralized earth, etc, etc.
A deficiency in Guyana as it relates to tourism is the lack of proper training schools for the tourism industry.
The attacks on various tourists within our country coupled with dishonest taxi drivers are very depressing. We saw recently a British soldier who had returned to Guyana after 50 years to be a part of Guyana’s Jubilee celebrations robbed of important sentimental objects at the Stabroek Market square. Another occasion was when four foreign tourists were enjoying the festivities at D’Urban Park and for some reason our own local Guyanese were annoyed with them. The Guyanese had cursed and abused these individuals. Our people need to be trained to respect others, because as it is, we are losing our reputation as a people of hospitality.
Also, on Friday August 12, we learned of a trio who were robbed by an unmarked vehicle somewhere on the East Coast sea wall. Can these bandits understand what they’ve done to the psyche of these individuals? Can these bandits understand what they have done to our country?
I have travelled to Japan and moved through all kinds of societies and I was amazed at how I was treated with dignity and respect by total strangers who bowed when we were passing and were always kind and welcoming.
What has happened to our people since we commenced our experimentation with socialism in the ʼ70s? Is Guyana in the throes of social decay? Are we becoming a hostile nation without compassion even for tourists, who are actually contributing to Guyana’s economy?
Our people need to learn to help a tourist and display generosity. We need to show that we are a mature, disciplined, hospitable people.
Tourism is expected to become a backbone of our economic structure. We need to safeguard it as it is a unique natural resource. And we must have the structure set in such a way that there will be no stone left unturned to capture the bandits who harm tourists.
Today, I, a patriotic citizen of this country who loves his country immensely, feel ashamed of our country. I feel greatly pained that we have nothing in place to help support our tourists.
Yours faithfully,
Roshan Khan
