Negative reporting hurting tourism sector – Hurakabra River Resort proprietors

– Kaieteur News is the chief culprit

Gem Madhoo-Nascimento and her husband Kit, proprietors of the Hurakabra River Resort have contended that the glorification of crime in the media is hurting the image of Guyana, particularly the tourism sector.

“We have to do so much damage control,” Madhoo-Nascimento said, recalling the numerous emails and phone calls she receives from worried potential tourists.

Madhoo-Nascimento stressed that she wished certain media houses would be more conscious, and desist from painting Guyana in a bad light. “I am not saying to hide anything, but we can’t see all of the crime on the front page, good things are happening too. News stories, once they are written, are there for the world to see, so when tourists conduct Internet searches, they often come across all the crime on the front page”.

The Kaieteur New has been guilty of this travesty, and according to sources, the owner of the newspaper Glenn Lall is consumed by greed and cares less about the image of his country, once his pockets are filled from the profit he makes from churning out half-truths and distortions on a daily basis.

Negative reporting of issues in Guyana by media houses can have devastating impacts on the country’s economic and tourism development, former Tourism Minister, Manzoor Nadir had said.

Nadir said each person may have a different opinion of what negative reporting is, but in his mind, it is the over-exaggeration of issues while providing “wrong reasons” for certain occurrences in the country.

He noted that he is not against reporting “something bad” but stated that placing them on the forefront of the newspapers, electronic media and even broadcast media does not sell the country in a positive light.

“If something bad happens and that is reported with respect to what happened, that is not considered bad reporting,” Nadir said. He continued: “There are some things that are not front page material… some things don’t deserve the kind of attention that they get in the media.”

Nadir said, “negative reporting does create an image, an image that says that this is not a country to do business in, this is not a country to visit, whether for the first time or on a return trip”. The former tourism minister stated that during his many years in the public sector, he experienced several instances where entrepreneurs and visitors alike have expressed much discomfort with either visiting or investing here, based on media reports.

“It builds up over time… a long term image that there are no positives happening in the country and it will detract from having our country being given a very rational reputation,” he told Guyana Times. He noted that many overseas-based Guyanese were actually fearful that they will be robbed, murdered or something bad will occur should they visit Guyana. However, with much persuasion those very persons visited Guyana and enjoyed their stay harm-free.