It would have been a complete waste of effort and resources unless the organizers of The Guyana Festival pursue an evaluation of the event with a view to determining the extent to which its outcomes were consistent with the goals that it set itself in the first place.
Certainly, the view expressed in last Friday’s issue of the Stabroek Business about the paucity of visitors to the event from abroad was consistent with the turnout on each of the three days and nights of the weekend. With hindsight one doubts that there was ever any serious expectation of a foreign ‘invasion.’ The Guyana Tourism Authority’s hype about overseas marketing and anticipation of foreign visitors was really no more than part of its broader marketing strategy to bestir the local ‘market.’ No one blames the organizers for this particular failing. It is, however, difficult not to find it amusing that they were serious.
While it is by no means a bad idea to seek to create an event designed to bring people to Guyana in droves during a particular time of year, the experience of other countries suggest that those kinds are properly branded over a period of time and then mostly after a good deal of effort, creativity and investment are poured into them. Questions have already been raised as to
