Guests and visitors should be allowed to experience our hospitality and our cuisine

Dear Editor,

With our new prosperity and increasing arrival of guests to our shores we must put our best foot forward. Many foreign establishments are in place for those seeking those experiences. We may have already reached our limit for such franchises. Going forward we should also embrace the opportunity to allow our guests and visitors coming to our country to experience our hospitality and our cuisine.

Continuing to develop our home grown establishments will help showcase our rich culture and what is uniquely Guyanese. Yes, we now have Starbucks and other foreign franchises to offer, but we also have Oasis Cafe, The Hibiscus, Demico House and other great local establishments that our guests can enjoy. Let’s embrace our local businesses and also help them grow and develop during this period of prosperity.

Shantas was a great Guyanese experience that has unfortunately left us, Arawak Steak House Roof Garden, Hollywood Disco, the Library Club and Mojo’s are others that we have also lost. The lucky ones amongst us have experienced these great establishments when they existed. People new to Guyana will also seek new and unique experiences. If the visitors / guests in Guyana are polite and respectful we should allow them to experience what is uniquely Guyanese. As long as they will truly appreciate it and are not wasteful we should open our doors to them and give them the opportunity to share in the great experiences we have in our country.

Let’s once again create those great experiences that last a lifetime thanks to our hospitality and old world charm. Guyana doesn’t need to be a copy of other cultures and tourist destinations. We just have to continue to truly enjoy what we have and how we share it with others. Enjoy the moment and allow each other to be happy.

Sincerely,

Jamil Changlee

Chairman

The Cooperative Republicans of

Guyana