When there is peace and stability in Guyana, then progress will be made, but until then tourism will be lacking.

Rama,

Why don't you start a horse-riding business in National Park?

There is money to be made. Tourists are willing to pay at least US$20 to ride a horse for an hour. Just get a permit from the gov't, train a few horses and jockeys to take tourists on a horse ride. When D2 comes to Guyana he will go for a horse ride to get the feeling of what it likes to be Burnham on a saddle.

rama well said,this morning i was trying to book a flight to guyana,its almost $800 to guyana,and you know that CAL do not take airmiles to guyana.now you and i know that airmiles is one of the best deal in travelling.and when guyanese donot have this deal to travell to guyana you know guyana is way backward.as i keep saying the fools that run guyana is 50 yrs backwards

Warrior,

Just hitch a ride on a Laparkan steamer to Guyana by sitting at the back with copy of "Destiny to Mould" by LFS Burnham. Read while the ship steams to Guyana. By the time you get there your head will full of grandiose ideas about running a country efficiently. You won't want to come and give us a hard time on GNI.

Take my advice boy. It's sound.

billy ram goat i could see you is a adviser to  RAMOTAR.i will take your advise thanks wise brother

Rama:

The only impediment to peace and stability in Guyana today are the terrorists in the Alliance For Change(AFC)----they were the ones who incited the violence and riots in Agricola and Linden last year---Nigel Hughes, Lincoln Lewis, Mark Bnschop, etc, etc---all terrorists.

But in the meantime, dont be pessimistic Rama---significant progress is being made in the tourism sector---with the encouragement of the government---the private sector is leading the way.

Rev

rev try reading what peeping tom the ppp stooges wrote in today papers about the private sector.for a guyanese that is living overseas you should know that guyana is not within standard for tourism.there is no good package,like airfare and hotel with all inclusive,like most of the tourist country offer.check package for cuba,jamaica ect ect

warrior:

Like the Rev said to caribJ:

ONE ONE DUTTY BUILD DAM!

Guyana will take about 20 years to get up to speed---so be patient warrior bai.

PATIENCE, PERSISTENCE AND PERSPIRATION(PPP) MAKE AN UNBEATABLE COMBINATION AND WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE SUCCESS OF TOURISM IN GUYANA.

Rev

at this rate when guyana start getting tourst to visit their jungle other country will be taking people to the moon.you live in god country rev where will you go in 20 yrs guyana jungle or to mars

warrior bai:

Check out Mars:

Mars is barren, parched and desolate; Guyana's interior, on the other hand, is intriguing, captivating, and enchanting.

Have you ever visited the beautiful interior of Guyana warrior ? The Rev has and will encourage foreigners and fellow Guyanese to visit.

Rev

And yet virtually NO Us tourists visit Guyana other than missionaries who want to "save"  Hindu pagans and people born in Guyana or of Guyanese descent.

Well as I predicted Both Delta and CAL lost $$$ last year trying to defend their market share from EZjet.  Now they have to recoup[ these losses.

Rev  expect fewer visits from Guyanese tourists this year with the demise of Redjet and Ezjet who between them accounted for 20% of the visitors last year.

And how many foreigners listened to you.  The Guyanese who visited did so out of a desire to see friends and relatives and I bet that 99% of them didnt venture beyond Linden and Bartica or Charity.

There is NOTHING that the PPP is doing to develop an eco/adventure tourism industry which will create employment for less skilled people in Gtwn and in interior locations.   So Guyana will get quirky people like Jim Gimlette (Wild Coast) and Rahul Bhattacharya (Sly Company) who describe Guyana and Guyanese as a rather "interesting" and odd group of people living in a thoroughly weird country.

Belize, Costa Rica, Panama will get eco adventure tourists as they have devloped packages which meet the needs of sophisticated tourists.  And even little islands like St Kitts, Dominica and St Luca will "excite" tourists with their "rain forest" tours, and opportunities to see monkeys or parrots.

And Guyana will attract only folks going to see friends/family, and others to "save savage Hindus from their paganism which is sure to damn them to hell".  Despite publicity on Animal Planet and BBC even those who are intrigued by this very unusual, unknown, intriguing and exotic country will soon give uip in frustration as they search the internet for credible and competitive packages and some assurance that the local tours can be booked in advance and offer safe and reliable services.

carib:

Like warrior you are waaaay too impatient---Rome wasn't built in a day---and so it will take about 20 years to get Guyana tourism on the right track.

Listen carib! Check out this PPP success formula:

PPP = PATIENCE + PERSISTENCE + PERSPIRATION = ROAD TO SUCCESS IN GUYANA'S TOURISM

Once again carib, you are free to keep talking--but the DOERS in the business sector are hard at work---they are doing and taking action---and they are fully aware of the PPP success formula.

Rev

I see now you hav echanged your tune.  befoere you screamed about how successful the PPP was in attracting tourists.  Now you agree that Guyanese ought to wait for two centuries before a viable eco/adventure industry canj be built.  The good thing is by then the PPP wouid be long gone and maybe professionals will finally develop Guyana beyond being a supplier of raw commodities, almost 100% dependent on remittances by Guyanese refugees and high prices over which Guyana has no control.

Talking to this bannaz is like water on duck's back. All Rev could do is post pikchas and write cliches that make you wonder. The eco-tourism industries in Costa Rica and elsewhere did not have doers working hard with Patience, Persistence and Perspiration. They just did it - by planning and execution.

So here's a Rev-ism:
PLANNING + EXECUTION > PATIENCE + PERSISTENCE + PERSPIRATION.

kari:

The Rev is not surprised you are a 9 to 5 slave, trading hours for dollars---you don't even know what a DOER in the business world is.

DOERS in the business world get things done--they develop plans and put those plans into action.

This is what the Rev wrote to carib:

Once again carib, you are free to keep talking--but the DOERS in the business sector are hard at work---they are doing and taking action---and they are fully aware of the PPP success formula(Patience + Persistence + Perspiration).

You should have read what I wrote before trying to score some cheap points kari.

Rev

The PATIENCE + PERSISTENCE + PERSPIRATIONDoers are still doing, while the PLANNING + EXECUTION tourism folks in Costa Rica are doing it....

Nice....

Correct.  Guyana has been getting some publicity on BBC, Animal Planet, etc.

So imagine that I am an affluent nature loving American earning more than $300K/year.  Not interested in the normal vacation spots.  Want to try something new.  So I can boast about a trip to a mysterious unknown country when I return to the country club [I will leave my wife in Barbados where she can sun, spa and shop to her hearts delight].

Read up that the Guyanas (Guyana and Suriname) are among the most ethnically diverse nations on this planet....especially when combined as you get Javanese and Maroons in addition to Guyana's sizeable Amerindian population).  Am also intrigued by the fact that because these two nations have very empty ingterior locations the animals are among the largest of their species.  Got excited by the program on PBS (Nature) which focused 100% on Diana McTurk's otters.  So I decided to go.

Hmmmm.  I went to my eco/adventure travel agent.  They immediately suggested Belize, Brazil (Amazon), Costa Rica, Panama.  Why I asked them?  Response was that Guyana has no packages consolidating accommodation, airfares (international and domestic), and tours that are bookable upfront.  That one must stitch together an itinerary when one gets to Guyana.  That because of its poor infrastructure weather severely impacts travel to the interior, and that because Guyana has very few eco tourists, the local operators rely on miners, therefore flights can be canceled at the last minute, or diverted.

So off I go to Nicaragua (the least known of the eco/adventure destinations in the Americas.  Why?  Because I can easily get info, book packages and be sure that the local operators wouldnt screw up.  The last thing I want is to be confined to Gtown (nothing to do after 3 days) and then find that I cannot get into or out of the interior...that local service providers (white water rafters, etc) are not certified and there are no safety standards or monitoring.  And that minutes before I board a flight (after 4 days of trying to get one), a call comes in diverting the plane to some gold mine because the operator can make more cash then transporting a lone tourist to see McTurk, or spend a day or two at Iworkrama.

This is what the PPP should focus on.  Not building another hotel in Gtwn when those which exist are struggling.  Let private investors assume 100% of the risk of Marriott.  If they wish to subsidized then they should do so for the operators who struggle to make money flying tourists to the intyerior because there are so few of them  [How many overseas Guyanese do you know who go to the Rupununi, aside from those who have business interests there?]