Dear Editor,

IN Guyana, tourism is often spoken of in terms of attracting visitors from abroad, but its greatest nation-building potential may lie within our own borders. Domestic tourism can serve as civics classrooms in the air, shaping civic consciousness and teaching inclusive citizenship in a society where ethnicity has too often defined identity.

When Guyanese travel to Kaieteur Falls, Shell Beach, Lethem, or the Rupununi, they enter mobile classrooms where landscapes, heritage sites, and cultural traditions become lessons in belonging. Domestic tourism teaches that our shared treasures do not belong to one group, but to all of us. Phagwah, Diwali, Eid, Mashramani, Emancipation, and Amerindian Heritage Month are not ethnic holidays, but civic celebrations that weave us into a single national fabric.

As Tim Coles argued in his essay, “Telling Tales of Tourism” (2007), tourism is a form of storytelling. The stories we tell about Guyana, whether in guidebooks, festivals, or family trips, shape how we imagine our country and each other.

Importantly, domestic tourism also reinforces what is taught in classrooms: Guyanese history, geography, major events, and cultural practices come alive when experienced directly, deepening the civic education that young people receive at school.

The PPP/C’s investments in infrastructure, urban renewal, and hinterland connectivity are not only economic achievements, but also civic ones, opening up the country as a shared civics classroom for all citizens. In this sense, domestic tourism fosters inclusive citizenship, reminding us that being Guyanese is larger than any ethnic affiliation.

If nurtured and expanded, domestic tourism can be one of our most powerful tools for unity, teaching us, in classrooms in the air, that we are, indeed, all part of One Guyana

Sincerely,

Dr Walter H Persaud