…GTA to target diaspora for distribution

THE 16th Edition of the Explore Guyana 2018 Magazine was unveiled at the residence of British High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn Wednesday evening.

The event was organised by the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) in collaboration with the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA), and also saw the announcement of the Winners of the 2017 THAG Essay Competition.

Being the largest ever published with a total of 112 pages, the magazine cover features a photograph of Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Sydney Allicock and Prince Harry at the Kaieteur Falls during the prince’s 2016 visit.
Publisher of Explore Guyana, Lokesh Singh, said that it was the first time that the association was able to gather all stakeholders in the tourism industry for one cause. “It tells you that the Tourism Industry is growing, our advertising support has been constant and we want to thank all of you who are in the industry that have supported this magazine over the years,” Singh commented

The Ministry of Business and the GTA have both committed to assisting in the distribution of the magazine locally, as well as internationally to the Guyanese diaspora, with 35,000 free copies available for this venture.
Some of the copies are also being distributed at Guyana embassies in the US, UK and Caribbean, enabling agencies to better market Guyana, GTA Director (ag), Carla Chandra said.

Chandra also spoke on success of the launching of the magazine in the UK this year, during the World Travel Market (WTM) event. The chosen destination, she said, saw them gaining exposure and access to travel professionals, international journalists and persons seeking to visit new destinations. The digital version of the magazine will also be made available globally and will target niche groups such as nature adventurers and younger travelers.

For the first time, the magazine is divided by months, providing readers with an array of options to ‘explore’ based on the activities occurring at the time. Encouraging Guyanese to improve the standards of their service in tourism was President of THAG, Andrea de Caires. She stressed that the best marketing tool of any country is good service.

“…Here, we need to up our game. Service is more important than anything else. You can apologise for a lot of other things if your service is outstanding and if your welcome is strong,” De Caires implored.

The keynote remarks came from Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin, who said that it was possible for Guyana to become a leading green destination by the year 2025.“…and we must ensure that it does…by marketing our wonderful destination, by getting investors on board…by training our service providers to offer higher standards of service and by enforcing industry regulations. This is certainly what we in the Ministry of Business have in mind.”

Meanwhile, the winners of the Primary and Secondary Schools categories of the Fourth Annual THAG Essay Competition under the theme, ‘Ten Things that make Guyana a unique place to visit’, were announced.

The two winners are: Rawletta Barrow from the Secondary category and Maryam Saeed Khan from the Primary category. Khan’s prize is a weekend for two at Arrowpoint and Dinner for two at Duke Lodge, while Barrow was prized with a weekend for two at Rewa Eco-Lodge.

The unveiling of the Explore Guyana 2018 Magazine was done by Minister Gaskin, Andrea de Caires and Lokesh Singh. Framed versions of the magazine’s cover were presented to the Minister and to President David Granger, which was accepted in his absence by Gaskin.