Guyana hosting CPL a testament of the PPP’s commitment to inclusive governance— Minister Walrond

(Photo- Hon. Oneidge Walrond, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, this morning, received a courtesy visit from Guyana’s first tourists from Qatar)

While many persons would understandably see the conspicuous investments in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) as big business for the franchise itself, headline sponsors and some of the major entities around the tournament, there is an unsung story, an untold script that features thousands of Guyanese who have been able to derive significant benefit from Guyana’s staging of this tournament.  This is according to Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Oneidge Walrond.

In her message to mark World Tourism Day 2022 which was observed on September 27 under the theme: “Re-think tourism”, she said that Guyana’s hosting of the cricket tournament demonstrates the PPP/C’s commitment to inclusive governance.

Importantly, Minister Walrond pointed out that the hosting of the T20 cricket serves as a very good example of how the government’s approach to social and economic development places the country on the cutting edge of re-thinking tourism as regards inclusion.

She reminded that the government was instrumental in pursuing and supporting Guyana’s bid to host the finals of the CPL— an opportunity that required courage and vision, “for when we did so the potential benefits were not apparent to most people.”

According to her, the situation was that because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the CPL had been played in empty stadia in 2020 with a modest revival in 2021.

This, she noted, was a result of stringent travel restrictions in place in most countries and because of the Omicron variant’s threat to occasion a return to lockdowns.

In light of this, she said the commitment to hosting the CPL finals was a significant undertaking attended to by considerable risk and uncertainty.

“We however had our eyes firmly on the fundamentals of the situation, we were confident in the science underlying vaccination, we saw progress being made in vaccinations in the region and wider world, and we saw undeniable signs that the world was well on the way to managing the pandemic,” she said.

Minister Walrond added “Our commitment to securing the rights to the CPL finals was part of our strategy for inclusive development.  We had our sights set not only on the primary revenue streams associated with cricket itself, but also on capturing wider benefits that such an event could bring to a broad cross-section of ordinary people in many sectors.   Indeed this was the primary motivation for the twinning of cricket with carnival.”

According to her, the government’s commitment to inclusion, drove it to design the overall architecture of CPL and Cricket Carnival with its attached signature events over a two-week period.

The minister said this was done to ensure that there were opportunities for meaningful participation by small, medium and microenterprises right down to the sole individual proprietor.

“And these benefits were realized in all sorts of businesses,” she added.

“For example, we advertised for expressions of interest for Guyanese to provide bed and breakfast accommodation for some of the visitors. The response was significant. We received close to one hundred and fifty expressions of interest, and of those we were eventually able to certify almost 50 of those applicants to provide bed and breakfast accommodations for the CPL.”

Looking forward, she pointed out that the government knows that even with the planned expansion of the country’s hotel room stock, Guyana will have similar demand next year and likely into the third year of the CPL contract.

And it should be evident that the benefits of this programme have the potential to readily extend beyond the CPL, Minister Walrond highlighted.

She added that the One Guyana Festival attracted well over 100 small vendors into a marketplace which featured thousands of patrons, allowing them a period of extraordinary sales that would have by far eclipsed their normal earnings.

The Regional Food Festival on Main Street, Georgetown, she added, had 51 registered vendors including participants from Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Lethem.

“Once again, these small businesspeople were, by design, given affordable access to a marketplace for their products that afforded them extra-ordinary revenues for their businesses.  Revenues that would otherwise not have been possible.”

“The benefits from the CPL extended to the many entertainment and cultural events which brought earnings and exposure to artists and promoters.  They also would have benefitted ordinary providers of goods and services such as taxi drivers, restauranteurs, caterers, farmers and a whole host of Guyanese who in all likelihood number in the thousands.”

She said too that the CPL Cricket Carnival is but one event, adding that the government’s plan is to consistently bring a number of such major events each year to Guyana’s shores.

“Thus, with a deliberate policy of inclusion, aimed at delivering broad-based benefit, we incrementally increase the opportunities to a wide cross-section of Guyanese for the benefit of the collective,” revealed the minister.

“So Cricket Carnival then exemplifies the philosophy and vision that grounds our approach to tourism development. That vision is for a sustainable tourism industry which benefits Guyanese in all ten regions of our country.  An industry where community-led tourism experiences exist alongside larger mass-based offerings.  Our environment is preserved in an unspoilt state for the enjoyment and benefit of future generations.  And an industry where the benefits accrue equitably to all of our citizens” she said.

The Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister expressed that she is happy to observe that the country is already in the vanguard as regards the “re-thinking” that is needed in the tourism industry.

“Many of our core eco-tourism offerings take place in the open spaces that are envisioned in the “re-thinking”. The new emphasis on rural development is well exemplified by our community-based tourism.”

Most importantly, she said that the targeting of broad-based benefit is reflected in Guyana’s active development of tourism events to benefit all segments of the business landscape from the large firm to the micro-enterprise to the individual sole proprietor.

As we celebrate World Tourism Day 2022, Minister Walrond declared that Guyana “is on the right track, firmly on course to build a sustainable tourism industry that will be one of the pillars of our economy as we pursue our aspiration of One Guyana, with security and prosperity for all Guyanese.”