This is part of all the ideas for Venezuela in this blog.
9.1. OFFER PUBLIC TOURIST OFFICES LIKE IN MEXICO, CANADA AND THE UK:
The government must run tourist information offices in every major city and at least in the 20 most important tourist spots in Venezuela (including Maiquetia). The tourist information offices must be run in a similar way as in Canada, Great Britain, Mexico or Spain and they should work in cooperation with local hotels, cultural centres, restaurants. Tourist information offices own by the State should sell maps and cards and help local artists to sell souvenirs that represent the region to tourists.
9.2. PROMOTE VENEZUELA AS TOURIST DESTINATION:
The Ministry of Tourism should present at least once a year a report about what it has done to increase tourism from abroad in Venezuela. The costs of any campaign abroad to promote tourism in Venezuela should be carefully justified.
9.3. OFFER INFORMATION IN ENGLISH IN VENEZUELAN MUSEUMS:
Venezuelan museums should display information also in English. The schools of Modern Languages of the Central University, the University of Merida and other institutions can help the government with the translations.
9.4. PROMOTE THE ACUARIO DE VALENCIA ABROAD AND IN VENEZUELA:
The Venezuelan government needs to promote the Acuario de Valencia and similar places in the main Tourist Offices and abroad (there should be at least one in Maiquetía, one in some central part of Caracas and one in Margarita).
9.5. RESCUE THE PIEDRA PINTADA INDIAN SITE IN CARABOBO:
This site needs to be rescued. Right now there is a very dangerous slum next to it and people are afraid of visiting the field. The area is not protected at all against erosion. The museum is scarcely supported.
These petroglyphs are located in the Piedra Pintada Centre in Carabobo, close to Yagua.
Right now there is a little museum with little protection.
Close to the area there is a dangerous area from where armed robbers come to assault the visitors that arrive there.
The stones are located on top a small and very dry hill. There is no protection, visitors can tread everywhere and the hill is eroding very fast. This place needs urgent protection.
Among other things, the authorities need to:
- Place a permanent police post in that area anyway. It is the Wild West right now.
- Give more resources for the museum that is located on the foot of the hill. The museum should have:
- an overview of Indians in the whole central region of Venezuela
- a description about their encounters with the Spanish Conquistadores
- a full description of the rites we know about them
- an overview of what we know about their languages
- a general overview of Indians in Venezuela.
- some examples about the influence of Indians in Venezuela
- a description about how to donate to a special fund for protecting Venezuela's cultural heritage.
- Improve the road leading here
- Declare the whole area protected and keep it clear from further constructions
- Create a good protection against erosion: well established paths and any other measure to guarantee the site won't continue crumbling down.
- put signs warning visitors not to trespass the area.
Oh, here you touched one of my favs criticisms to any venezuelan government: turism (or the lack of).
ReplyDeleteI remember the first time I went to Mexico, won't tell you when (some decades ago..). My mother and I were so impressed with the attention given to us, simple and almost poor 'viajeras'.
The restaurant at our hotel was expensive, so we asked and the front desk guy sent us to a mom & pop place, one block away. There, the waiter told us to show our passports, thus we got a tax free bill.
Here, I think they try to charge you more if they find you're not a local. Somehow I think this attitude is embedded in our venezuelan DNA, makes me sad.
Things are awfully expensive in Venezuela. Why would a US family want to go there when there are cheap package deals to The Dominican Republic and other warm, sunny and friendly places?
ReplyDeleteWhat can be done about these high costs?
Nikita,
ReplyDeleteThe whole thing has to be seen in context with the other ideas.
Venezuela is now indeed very expensive.
Now, there are lots of people who go to Norway and Norway is a lot more expensive.
Some of the things that need to be done:
- start setting the currency free (but that with a lot of well developed, transparent mechanisms for import of medicine and the like, not the rubbishy "mechanisms" there are now: actually, many directors of public hospitals have their own businesses and sell overpriced stuff to their hospitals or have frontmen, etc, this needs to end)
- fight crime (among other things through real social justice, but also better police, etc, etc)
- educate Venezuelans about how to treat tourists
- create government tourist offices that are dependent on each state but with national coordination, something like in Britain or Spain or Italy
Actually, there used to be more quality tourists in Venezuela in the early nineties. Now you have to be a madman, with Venezuela having a murder rate that is several times higher