Visit Rupununi inks MoU to appeal to LGBTQ+ tourists

Seeking to expand its tourist demographic to the LGBTQ+ community, both locally and internationally, Visit Rupununi has partnered with the LGBTQ+ Coalition by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in hopes of achieving this goal.
Visit Rupununi, on Monday, inked a MoU between the LGBTQ+ Coalition, comprising Guyana Trans United (GTU), the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), and SASOD Woman’s Arm Guyana (SWAG).
The joint effort will mobilise resources, seeking opportunities for funding and projects related to the purpose of the agreement in order to deepen and develop the partnership between the parties.

Managing Director of Visit Rupununi, Melani Mcturk, said that it is important for Visit Rupununi, as a tourist’s destination to equip itself with the skills and knowledge to appeal to the LGBTQ+ community, an ever-growing market base in the tourism sector, not just only in Guyana, but around the world.
“As humans, we all seek out the destinations that treat us with respect, make us feel safe and that makes us feel better about ourselves and the world around us. With this in mind, it is important for the Rupununi that we continue to equip ourselves with the skills and knowledge to appeal to an ever-growing market base to ensure that all visitors to the Rupununi are treated with equal respect and consideration,” Mcturk said.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, that sent the world into a global lockdown, the pink economy – a socioeconomic and market phenomenon of including gays/lesbians and/or people with other non-mainstream sexual orientations in the market economy – was worth an estimated US$3.6 trillion worldwide, and the LGBTQ travel market was worth more than US$218 billion worldwide, according to Mcturk.

LGBTQ+ tourists
Managing Director of SASOD, Joel Simpson highlighted that Visit Rupununi would provide necessary information to LGBTQ+ tourists and direct them to the Guyana LGBTQ+ Coalition and SASOD Guyana’s travel service, as needed. This apart of the agreement is vice versa.
Simpson explained, “We’ve committed to working together to mobilize resources, to be able to deepen and develop this partnership. So, this first MoU is a start, but we don’t see it as being static. We want to also be able to find resources to market the Rupununi as LGBTQ-friendly. So, now that we’ve signed this agreement, some of the immediate steps that we are going to take, we are going to reach out to an international LGBT travel service called LGBTQ Travel Planet, and to get Visit Rupununi listed there. So, when people are searching these databases, searching these international websites for places that are gay-friendly in South America, Visit Rupununi and Guyana will pop up.”

Travel service
The MoU reads that SASOD Guyana will develop its own travel service that LGBTQ+ tourists can utilise to book local tourism services and receive peer support from LGBTQ+ people in Guyana.
It also states that Visit Rupununi will promote respect for all people regardless of sex characteristics, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. This includes promoting respect and understanding of sexual and gender diversity among its members.
In addition, Simpson said that with the agreement, some 15-20 trainers at Visit Rupununi will be trained on LGBTQ+ culture.
“One of the first practical actions that we are going to take within this calendar year is to work with Visit Rupununi to train a cadre of trainers from Visit Rupununi on LGBTQ issues, gender, and sexual diversity in the context of customer service and tourism. So, that cadre of 15-20 trainers could also do retraining within their own businesses and within their member organizations of Visit Rupununi,” SASOD’s Managing Director said.

LGBTQ+ rights
Visit Rupununi is the first tourism agency to partner with the LGBTQ+ Coalition.
Though a major step for the LGBTQ+ Coalition and Visit Rupununi, Simpson still maintained that there is a lot more to be done as pertains to fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in Guyana. This he noted as to begin at the government level with the transformation of the Prevention of Discrimination Act of 1997, which makes no mention of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Because of this, Simpson said that Guyana is losing out on income because of the laws that frighten tourists of the LGBTQ+ community from coming to the country.
“Guyana is losing out on significant income that we could gain by the reputation that our country and this part of the world have for being homophobic and for having homophobic laws in the books.”
“What a lot of LGBTQ travel advisory services tell people first when they’re considering where to go in terms of destinations of what kind of laws those countries have. Specifically, there are popular applications that LGBTQ people to meet other LGBTQ people in the same localities, and when you arrive in Guyana, the first that will pop up is a warning that says, ‘Guyana has laws that criminalize sex between men.’ And because of these laws, these policies, the lack of protection, high incidents of hate crime, and violence. Our country is missing out on a huge opportunity.” (G2)