As tourism in the Rupununi experiences a major turnaround from the Covid-19 pandemic, tourists are being urged to respect native culture whenever they are on the soil of the country’s indigenous folks.
President of Visit Rupununi, Melanie Mc Turk made the comments during a recent engagement with the media during a tour to the North Rupununi which was organised by the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA).
During the tour visits were made to several tourist destinations including Karanambu Lodge which is operated by Mc Turk. Karanambu Lodge is considered a unique site for conservation and eco-tourism in Guyana.
Interestingly, over 70 per cent of the economic activity in the North Rupununi stems from tourism.
Melanie Mc Turk
Since venturing into tourism, Mc Turk has observed that the region has not only benefitted economically but its customs and traditions are appreciated more.
“I am really proud of Visit Rupununi because I think it really captures the commitment of the Rupununi to have a sustainable future. Because what we have discovered is that tourism is not only an economic earner but it has ripple effects across the society so if one looks at the North Rupununi over the past 20-30 years that we have had tourism what we have seen is a reemergence of culture where once did not want to speak Macushi and the cultural groups were languishing for people to join, now people are proud of being Macushi, they want to dress up for heritage months. People are learning Macushi actively and part of that is because when tourist come they are fascinated by this culture and that gives you a sense of pride.”
She noted too that the tourism sector has brought tremendous opportunities for young women and girls in the Rupununi.
Once there was a time when only men had work and now at many of the lodges you will find many women if not more women working than men.
She said young women in the Rupununi are taking up administrative roles.
“This is really wonderful.”
Mc Turk pointed out that over the past two years Visit Rupununi has worked assiduously to expand training and capacity building which is being bone in collaboration with the GTA for other Rupununi tourism operators.
“We have also worked very hard on creating the wildlife friendly tourism manual. What we wanted was to capture some of the lessons we have already learn and sort of set a code of conduct for us as a community group going forward.”
This Mc Turk pointed out has led to development of the thirteen values of wildlife friendly tourism.
“It starts with respect; respect for our national law, respect rules and respect for local customs and it ends with us wanting to make sure that everything we do benefits out community. In-between we talk about fishing that could reduce out fishing population because as must as we want tourist to come and enjoy the experience of fishing, we want them to remember that the fish resource is a critical resource and it is very important to the people of this region as a food source.”
