-sells it every opportunity he gets

Guyana as portrayed by John Gimlette

RENOWNED British travel writer, John Gimlette has once again favoured ‘Destination Guyana’ with another of his riveting articles, this time around in the popular British newspaper, ‘The Daily Telegraph’.

The article at reference is titled ‘Guyana – A journey into the Jurassic’, and was featured in the August 12, 2009 edition of the publication.

It reads in part: “In the remote savannahs of southern Guyana, John Gimlette meets people whose ancestors have figured in English literature for 400 years.”

Describing Guyana in the article as “a garden built by God, inhabited by survivors and where life is lived to the fullest,” Gimlette, who is also a trained lawyer, takes readers right along with him on his odyssey across the Rupununi savannah.

The popular travel writer came here earlier in the year and spent 40 days travelling extensively and gathering material for a proposed book on the peoples of the Guianas, while experiencing the natural beauty and wonders of Guyana and its diverse population and culture.

This latest article of his comes on the heels of a previous one carried in the April/May issue of the leading British magazine, ‘Wanderlust’ under the title, ‘In God’s Garden’.

Apart from writing for publications such as ‘Wanderlust’ and ‘The Guardian’, among other top travel magazines in the United Kingdom (UK), Gimlette, who’s in his late 40s, has authored such other publications as ‘At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig’, ‘Theatre of Fish’, and ‘Panther Soup’.

His visit to Guyana was sponsored by Wilderness Explorers, the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) and other entities in the private sector after a chance meeting at the British Bird Watching Fair in the UK in August last year.

His portrayal of Surama, a village in the north Rupununi, reads thus: “Here, spreading southwards, they have their own world — a great, golden grassland the size of Scotland. Walled in at the far end by some of the oldest mountains on Earth, there’s nowhere quite like it. The lilies are five feet wide, and sandpaper grows on trees. Even the animals feel curiously like Jurassic. Here are the world’s largest ants, otters and anteaters, and its biggest fish – the Arapaima (a bearded monster as big as a horse).”

He also chronicled his experiences while travelling from Annai in the north, to Karanambu, Dadanawa, and Lethem in the south, saying: “Out in the savannahs, nature rules. It’s a beautiful, half-finished land, rimmed with mountains like purple teeth and dappled in brilliant birds. In the rainy season, it turns to glue; then the water recedes and once again it’s a sea of thorns and bony lagoons.”

According to GTA Director, Mr. Indranauth Haralsingh, it is articles like Gimlette’s that help keep the spotlight on Guyana, and in the minds of readers the world over.

“Articles like this will help to keep Guyana in the minds of the people, and if you look at the story, what he talks about, it reiterates the whole fact that Guyana is a pristine nature destination which people should visit,” he said, adding: “The most important thing is about keeping Guyana fresh in their minds and in their memories.”

Noting that it is for this very reason that it is important to support travel writers coming to Guyana from major international publications, Haralsingh said:

“The GTA, the ministry and private sector partners should continue to focus on this since this is one of the most cost-effective ways of promoting ‘Destination Guyana’ and creating awareness of it. This is the kind of positive coverage that Guyana needs.”

A point he made that is worthy of noting was that articles written from the perspective of a foreign writer who has visited and experienced ‘Destination Guyana’ tend to lend more credibility to the story, and that such an outcome was all part and parcel of the GTA’s marketing strategy to create international awareness on Guyana’s tourism products.

He said the GTA, the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce and private sector partners will continue to target not only travel writers but television and documentary producers as well as familiarisation (FAM) groups to come to Guyana and help push our tourism product.

Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Mr. Manniram Prashad meanwhile has said that the fact that tourist arrivals here continue to show positive trends despite the global economic downturn and decline in tourist arrivals in the Caribbean is due largely “to such positive coverage” and his ministry’s “… aggressive marketing strategy.”

Figures for the year show that in January, for instance, there was a seven per cent rise, followed by a 21.8 per cent increase in February. There was however a 5.8 per cent decline in March, but things righted itself by April to show an 11.5 per cent increase. Since May, the figures have been rising steadily, from 7.7 per cent, to 18.8 and just over 20 per cent in June and July respectively.

Guyana has been featured and highlighted in various international travel magazines and shows, such as the BBC’s three-part series, ‘The Lost Land of the Jaguar’, and also its attendance and participation in major trade shows such as the World Travel Market in London, England, and the International Trade Bourst (ITB) in Berlin, Germany.

Gimlette’s article can be read in its entirety on www.telegraph.co.uk. The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the UK and internationally.

The newspaper was founded by Colonel Arthur B Sleigh in June 1855 as the Daily Telegraph and Courier, and is the only remaining national broadsheet newspaper in the UK.

Now owned by David and Frederick Barclay, The Telegraph has the ninth largest daily UK newspaper circulation. In January 2009, it was rated the highest selling British ‘quality’ paper, with a certified average daily circulation of 842,912