GIVEN Region Nine’s sprawling beauty, it is no easy task to market this gem of a region to the rest of the world. But the folk at non-governmental organization “Visit Rupununi “, is working to ensure that Guyanese and the international audience know and understands that

a truly special and unique place exists. Their aim: to have persons visit the Rupununi.
The organisation was born out of the Conservation International‘s Guyana “Rupununi Low Carbon Livelihoods Project”, which is aimed at improving livelihoods in two main areas: agriculture and tourism.

Visit Rupununi collaborates with tourism operators, and work collectively to address the issues which affect them. According to Coordinator, Candace Phillips, while the organisation is in its early stages, it stands to be a model for replication in other regions of Guyana which are actively involved in tourism or would like to be.

The body operates out of the Conservation International office in Lethem and functions as a destination management organization. Its aim is to bring representation to tourism operators in the Rupununi while targeting areas of product development, promotion and marketing, facilitating training to improve the standard of service in the region.
The body has worked with the rodeo committee over the years to raise the profile of the region’s signature event, the Rupununi Rodeo. This year marks the second year that the body has collaborated with the Rodeo Committee. Its aim is to provide increased focus on social media promotion to highlight what makes this event truly Rupununi in nature and to encourage nationals to travel to the region.

In addition to the rodeo, the body has also worked along with personnel in the tourism services sector in the region. It hosted a hospitality training session for Lethem hotels and operators with the aim of improving service delivery in the region. “As Rodeo is the region’s biggest event, efforts were concentrated around this so that over time, we can see improvement in the Rupununi service sector”, Phillips said. She said the training was conducted by Ms Susan Isaacs, a hospitality expert who has worked for many years in the hospitality sector. In addition, the body also coordinated food safety training sessions along with the Guyana Tourism Authority and this has benefited Lethem tour operators, lodges and stallholders at the rodeo.

Phillips said that the strength of Visit Rupununi has been its ability to provide a platform for tourism providers to collaborate and decide the way forward for tourism development in the region. It has achieved this stance, since it draws on the involvement of communities, private sector and regional bodies. Traditionally, this has been done in isolated factions, Phillips said. She noted that it allows for the expression of issues which affect the industry and a collective decision- making on strategies which can help to address these. “Visit Rupununi has been pressing forward in its role as a coordinating body for regional tourism development”, Phillips said.

In the years ahead, the body plans to continue to seek opportunities which can realise the full tourism potential of The Rupununi. In addition, it plans to find new markets and provide a medium where stakeholders work together for the further development of tourism in the region.

In 2016, the body engaged the Brazilian market in neighbouring Boa Vista and in the months ahead it plans to further enhance those opportunities which are available to the Guyanese market and looking farther afield into the Brazilian state of Manaus to source travellers to The Rupununi.