Guyana 's success story
By Rawle Welch
Kaieteur News
April 12, 2007
It came and happened and now it is gone, that is the Super Eight segment of Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007 which was hosted right here Guyana at our spanking new stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara.
Regardless of whether the West Indies progress to the finals or not, our hosting of the six matches was a highly successful story which will be spoken about long after CWC 2007 would have concluded.
This is the event our country had looked forward to and prepared for over the past three years as evident by the construction of a brand new stadium, the setting up of modern hotels, the sprucing up of the Garden City and the extensive training our volunteers underwent, all of which was aimed at ensuring that we provide the necessary welcoming atmosphere for visitors and what a performance it was.
All over the Caribbean, the attendance has been low and somewhat disappointing with many reasons being proffered, but Guyana stood head and shoulders above the rest with the biggest accumulative turnout by fans.
However, despite the anticipated losses in revenue, if any country can boldly exclaim that it is a winner, it has to be Guyana.
A look at our performance over the period of hosting would indicate that for a nation whose economic and social development has suffered tremendously since gaining Independence because of the ethnic strife which is a result of the political differences, it was heartening to see us united as we attempted to make sure that those who visited here leave with a positive and lasting legacy of our country.
Apart from the wonderful cricket that was played, the manner in which the several hundred volunteers equipped themselves was a feature that should be studied and documented for future reference.
A country already renowned for its hospitality, it required little effort to display such qualities, which came in for high praise from those that visited these shores.
It was also recognised that even the normally hectic jobs in the hospitality industry such as restaurants and hotels failed to affect the outstanding performance of staff as they greeted everyone in a friendly and polite manner.
One volunteer aptly described the end of it all as “bitter sweet, I am a bit tired, I will miss the early getting up in the morning to come and grab the opportunity to showcase our kindness.”
Most of those asked to comment on Guyana's performance, said that apart from the excellent cricket facilities and the competitive matches, the other highlight was the demonstration of the good service by the volunteers.
They recommended that those in authority should do something tangible in recognition of their efforts.
It was further suggested that a core of them be retained who can be called upon to work, during the hosting of similar events.
It would be inconsistent not to mention some of the negatives that occurred during the period, but for a country hosting an event of such magnitude for the first time, those unfortunate incidences were far and few.
There was the situation of the elevator in the media centre not working after the opening day, while one of the air-conditioned units in the media box was often not operational causing some level of discomfort to operatives using that room and the belated decision to disburse tickets to the schools.
But, all those examples could be easily remedied for the future.
The interactive session held jointly by the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) was very thoughtful and insightful as it did help to dissipate a lot of the skepticisms.
According to CEO, Karan Singh, “we may not get the amount of revenue previously anticipated, but Guyana grasped the opportunity with both hands to showcase itself and this was done freely.”
An attempt must be made to maintain those standards if Guyana is to really become a favoured tourist destination.
The launch pad has already been set and just like our performance during CWC 2007, we must aim to improve on the start we've had over the past few weeks and work together as one.