–to utilise services of local-content creators for social media

AS part of efforts to publicise Guyana as a destination country, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Oneidge Walrond, says the ministry has been advocating for greater partnerships with international agencies to utilise the services of local-content creators for social media and other publications.

The tourism minister said this during her address at the ministry’s Village Video Competition Prize Giving Ceremony at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre on Friday.

Minister Walrond, noting that the ministry received 16 “excellent presentations,” said that there were video submissions from almost every region in Guyana.

Many of the producers of the videos, she said, have demonstrated that the capacity is available locally to produce quality content. As such, she related that the ministry will continue to facilitate initiatives such as these to enhance content creation and to be able to identify them with the objective of facilitating lucrative opportunities for Guyanese, while exposing Guyana’s tourism product to a global audience.

“There are some incredible shots and natural sounds of the environments and even the chatter of the community and villagers. This brought to life the dynamism of our communities. I’m confident in any of these top five videos we are recognizing today can make it on the international level…” the tourism minister stated.

She noted that the objective of the competition was to showcase the beauty and diversity of Guyana and to affirm the ministry’s point that every region of the country has tourism potential.
“You’ll see that we received multiple submissions from almost every region of Guyana, with multiple submissions from Regions Four, Nine and 10… the Department of Tourism has worked with all and continues to work with all regions to establish Tourism Committees,” she said.

Walrond explained that the committees would drive tourism from the regional levels simultaneously and that the Guyana Tourism Authority has been working with many communities to develop their products into full-fledged tourism offerings.

“We are doing this because tourism has a positive impact on the lives of residents and these residents are the best individuals to carry this mantra, because they know their province better than anyone else,” she said.
The tourism minister added: “The village video competition sought to get residents involved in content creation because you are on site, you know the locations… the best time to capture the right images.”

She explained that based on the analytics of the videos posted, the viewership originated from different parts of the world.

“It was not just Guyanese who were looking, every video that is produced or photo that captures the aspect of destination Guyana serves as a marketing tool,” she said.

Minister Walrond explained that if the ministry had to tender for marketing such as those videos and snaps, it would cost hundreds of millions of US dollars.

“We encourage Guyanese to keep taking photos and videos of the various destinations as you travel around and share these images. Many tourists spend significant time researching where they intend to visit and these images will pop up in the feed when they search for them,” she noted.

Additionally, the ministry has been focusing on tourism influencers who can act as brand ambassadors.

“The primary targets are those individuals who have significant social media following and are inclined to promoting Guyana as a tourism destination… so, you will see more Guyanese actively promoting the destination on their social media pages as we work collaboratively to boost our tourism product,” she said.

Meanwhile, for the village video contest, Hana Andrews won ‘Most Reactions’ with a video about Pakuri Village.

In first place was Shannon Holland with 39 points for his video on Mapari, Katoka Village in Region Nine winning $400,000; in second, Damian Lackna and Darrin Smith tied. Damian produced a video on the Rupununi and Darrin on Wakapao, winning prizes of $150,000 each.

In fourth place came Danielle Swain and Shatanand Anude for their video on Ubudi Lodge, Moraikobai, winning $75,000 and in fifth, Jeff Simon for his video on Rewa Eco-Lodge, winning $50,000.

The tourism minister related to the attendees that their videos will be used for promotion, locally and internationally.

Additionally, the GTA will evaluate the potential of the sites covered in their videos and potentially work with the winners to streamline new products.