They are that Guyanas eco-tourism product must be featured prominently in the advertising campaign, and that the Private Sector must meet its end of a financial obligation.

President Bharrat Jagdeo outlined his Government’s position on this issue at a news conference held at the Office of the President on Friday following his return from the 13th Inter-Sessional meeting of Heads of the CARICOM Community (CARICOM) in Belize.

The President said that Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Manzoor Nadir has clear instructions to ensure that Guyana will benefit from the programme in tangible way.

Nadir was at the time attending a special Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) meeting in Barbados. The meeting, which was held at the Accra Beach Hotel, Friday, was to discuss important and pressing matters presently affecting Caribbean tourism.

President Jagdeo said: “It means that our product, the eco-tourism product, which is different from the rest of the Caribbean, will have a prominent place on the promotional programme, and it will not just be a promotional programme about sun, sand and sea.

We will insist that the private sector also meet their obligations, and if he (Nadir) is satisfied with those two conditions, then our funding will stand. Alternatively, we would not support any programme, although we have processed the resources already.

The Guyanese leader continued: “I am not going to support any programme that doesn’t market the region as a whole, and every part of the Region. Belize, Guyana and Suriname have things to offer, too, in the tourism sector.

He contended that unfortunately, many of the programmes in the past have focussed only on one product, and Guyana is insisting now on being featured.

The marketing programme and the special CTO meeting have their genesis in a two-day emergency meeting called in October 2001 by CARICOM in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

At that meeting it was decided that governments of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), along with Private Sector agencies that do business there, will spend US$16M over a period of one year to lure tourists back to their territories.

The campaign will consist primarily of television advertisements in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.

CARICOM countries pledged to come up with US$4M and were to ask non-members such as the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and others for a further US$4M. Hotels will contribute US$4M and other businesses a similar amount, for the campaign, which aims at selling the region as a whole.

Though originally designed to get off the ground shortly after the September 11 attack, is yet to be realised, and, according to President Jagdeo, concern was raised at the Belize meeting as to whether it can still be termed an “emergency programme”. He noted, too, that while the Governments have accepted their commitment and have made available the promised US$4M, the Private Sector seems to have difficulty coming up with its component.

It was on this note that the President spoke of the clear instructions given to Minister Nadir and of his Government’s intention to pull out of the campaign, if the conditions were not met.

Asked if a litmus test will be taken to determine whether Guyana will be getting value for money, President Jagdeo reiterated the two main areas of his administration’s concern. They are:

** that the Private sector must put in its part of the package so that there is not a scaled down version of the promotional programme, whereby only governments will do the financing, and

** that Guyana’s tourism product must be taken care off within the promotional programme.

President Jagdeo stressed that whatever form the tourism promotion takes, Guyana’s natural attractions must be featured prominently.