Main street mooted as Mecca for tourists
The Main street thoroughfare in Georgetown will be the stage for "The Main Big Lime 99", a November 27 tourism awareness and cultural extravaganza to be highlighted by the inclusion of music and cuisine from local enterprises and countries in the region. The Tourism Month special event will highlight unique features of one of the capital city's more significant streets and is almost entirely being sponsored by the local business sector. Included in the day's programme will be performances by bands from Suriname, Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia and other features of their culture, including special food displays. The Main street businesses will coordinate activities in the vicinity of their establishments. Among the local features planned are an Amerindian village display in front of the Walter Roth museum and a Chinatown near to the New Thriving restaurant. Participating businesses include the New Guyana Marketing Corporation which will showcase its products as part of its "buy local" campaign, while Hotel Tower will cater for the "enormous thirsts" that will accumulate during the festival. Briefing reporters on the event, Geoffrey DaSilva, Office of the President staffer, said that the concept which is novel to Guyana aims to showcase the products of the country through the businesses, hotels, restaurants and night spots located on the particular street. The event, DaSilva noted, is open to the general public and aims at showcasing the country through Main Street. In many other countries, DaSilva observed, a particular street becomes synonymous with tourists, citing as examples Frederick street in Port-of-Spain, and Broadway in New York. He sees the need for Guyana to develop a similar landmark in its drive to promote tourism. Speaking at the briefing also were other key players in organising the event, including Commissioner of Police, Laurie Lewis. Donald Sinclair, coordinator of the Division of Tourism and Caribbean Studies at the University of Guyana, and a major personality in the local tourism drive, said the `lime' will bring businessmen and tourism entrepeneurs together in an important way while also enabling a fusion of neighbouring cultures. The timing of the festival, Sinclair noted, was a deliberate attempt at attracting visitors during the customary low season. It is his hope that the event in years to come will attract visitors to this land and will become an important event in the country's cultural calendar.
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