Georgetown: “Guyana is committed to sustainable development as we seek to ensure that our resources remain for future generations.” Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) Mr. Indranauth Haralsingh made this bold assertion during an interview with Trinidadian Filming Crew from the Environmental Network, at the GTA Office in Sophia.
The Filming Crew from a TV 6 programme, ‘Showcase Environment’, is in Guyana to film a series of mini documentaries for their scheduled October- December 2013 programme.
The team visited the office of the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) and Spoke to the Director about the drive to promote Sustainable tourism in Guyana.
Haralsingh maintained that the driving force behind the sustainable development of the country is imbedded in the country’s National Development Strategy, the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) as well as in the hearts of every Guyanese.
Alluding to Guyana’s ongoing participation in the Sustainable Tourism Conference (STC) and our previous awards, he pointed to the importance of the prestigious recognition as a leader in sustainable tourism development.
Guyana, so far, has been the only country to host the STC twice; in addition to this, the country won three awards at the 2012 CTO Awards including the Excellence in Sustainable Tourism Award.
The GTA Director expressed the confidence that Guyana will once again emerge as top winners at STC 14 and will cart of awards for each of the five entries submitted.
Haralsingh said, “Our winners help us to achieve our vision and to highlight what we are committed to doing naturally.”
In this regard, the GTA Director took the opportunity to highlight that Guyana has many attributes and qualities that the destination is taking advantage of including being the Land of the Giants, Land of Many Waters and Land of Six Peoples.
Fielding questions on the advantage of Guyana’s geographical positioning as “the right ear of South America and the lower lip of the Caribbean” Haraslingh said that the dual identity works for Guyana.
He alluded to the advantages of being a part of the Amazon Co-operation Treaty Organisation (ACTO) and contributing to the sustainable development of the Amazon region, particularly through the circuit Manual of the Amazon Tourism Trail.
“The formulation of the manual resulted directly from the involvement of ACTO’s move to develop integrated tourism for the Amazon region, and focus on Guyana, Suriname and Brazil,” he revealed.
Haralsingh acquiesced to the fact that as a country, Guyana also shares a common culture of the Caribbean.
Also present at the interview was Mr. Ganesh Singh, owner and Manager of Corentyne River Tours (Cortours) who explained that the local company in Berbice, has established eco-tourist resorts at Orealla and Cow Falls up the Corentyne River to promote tourism in that area.
According to Singh, travelling to the locations along the Corentyne River will allow the lucky few to experience the “peace and tranquility” of the tourism product there.
‘Showcase Environment ‘
The Environmental Network of Trinidad and Tobago (ENT) was registered and launched in 2011. It is a company committed to promoting eco-tourism and conservation of natural environments in and around Trinidad and Tobago.
This is when the first season of television’s “Showcase Environment” was born; the thirteen episode show features segments on wildlife, interviews with communities on conservation and hiking and scuba diving.
The show has been hailed as the “Local National Geographic” by a wide cross section of the population of viewers.
According to its Manager and producer, Heather -Dawn Herrera, organizers of the show are presently in talks with companies in the United Kingdom and Canada to have the show broadcasted there.
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