John's Final Wrap-up

The last day began very early with a 2:45AM pickup from the hotel to drive to the airport. It was unclear why it was necessary to be at the airport by 4AM when the flight didn't leave until 7:30AM. After making the 50 minute journey to the airport, it was still closed and didn't open until around 5AM. The shuttle timing could be better in the future in order to allow tourists to sleep a few more hours and arrive at an airport that is open.

In addition, the plane was delayed for 90 minutes waiting for an inbound flight from Belem, Brazil that had mechanical difficulties before it could take off. Therefore the total time spent waiting at the airport was 5 hours. The delay also caused a missed connection in Trinidad and another 6 hour layover. Suriname Airways does not have any direct agreements with other air carriers and therefore passengers who are connecting to other flights must pick up their bags from the baggage claim and check in with the new airline as if they were starting their journey from that point. It makes for very inefficient travel and the need for long layovers while traveling to Suriname.

At this point the team has gathered quite a bit of data and has a number of findings to combine as we head into phase 2. What we will do from here is each gather our findings and next steps into individual documents over the next few days so that we capture the major points before getting too ingrained back in the US. We can then use the documents to help move us into building out the value chain as well as start the next phase of the project with competitive analysis. 

A very empty airport at 4:15AM

Even at the gate, very few people are around yet

Sunrise over the misty jungle across the runway

Walking across the tarmac to board the plane

Flying over the coast north into the Caribbean

Wrapping up

At this point it feels like we are somewhere between American and Surinamese as we have spent so much time learning from people, eating the food, and traveling around (at least the northern part of the country).  As an update for today, we made it through another few interviews with tour operators, hotels, and a business association; spent time at STS gathering hard data from their MIST system and learning about quite a few policies that have been proposed for tourism that didn't quite go anywhere; and even made it to the US Embassy to interview the US Ambassador to Suriname.

While I head out in another few hours, Hiro and Debbie have 3 more interviews tomorrow morning followed by a trip to Brownsberg.  It will be good to at least see a bit of the interior, which is definitely one of Suriname's key tourism products.  At this point we have gathered quite a bit of data and have a number of findings to combine as we head into phase 2.  The three of us had a chance to visit both last night and tonight regarding our thoughts.  What we will do from here is each gather our findings and next steps into individual documents over the next few days so that we capture the major points before getting too ingrained back in the US.  We can then use the documents to help move us into building out the value chain as well as start the next phase of the project with competitive analysis.  We will not interview everyone that we planned, but we can send follow-up emails and surveys to the relevant people as we continue to gather data.

In the mean time on our break, one priority is working with STS to prepare the tourist survey for January so that we can gather direct consumer information as they are willing to help facilitate the survey and it will be beneficial to all of us.  Beyond that, let's plan to stay in touch over email during the break with any findings and additional research that we are each working on and then meet as a team during the first week to review everything we found to date.

John Kinney

Monday Wrap-up

An issue that appears to be prevalent in Paramaribo is the amount of trash throughout the city on the streets. The issue appears to be that the waste management companies have the habit of picking up trash less frequently than expected/contracted. As a result, people who have trash in their house will end up dumping it in open spaces to get rid of it.

In addition, the hours of tourism-related activities are very reduced. The tourism center is not open on the weekends or after 3:30PM. Other places, such as souvenir/gift-shops were not even open during posted hours as the owners didn't feel like opening that day.

For the last team dinner in the country, the group went with a very good Thai restaurant.

Trash dumped on the street downtown

Trash dumped in an empty building

Limited hours at the tourism center

Thai dinner with mosquito spray

Monday Data Gathering

As Monday was my last day of data gathering, it ended up being a busy day of activity. While Hiro and Debbie continued interviews at CI and with Marriott, I spent morning at the Suriname Tourism Foundation reviewing the piles of policies and training that have been created for tourism but not fully used. The reason appears primarily to be issues with implementation that from difficulty in adapting the material and training practices to the local environment. It was a sobering reminder to the team that the implementation needs to be both clear and localized to the region. To help, the group from Trinidad that was pitching a similar project (more implementation-focused) will be good to work with in order to better inform both project teams and build something that the country can actually use.

The afternoon was spent combining the data gathered along with the interview notes into a SWOT analysis that was a starting point to combine all the issues uncovered through the interviews. I also went to the US Embassy and talked with Ambassador John Nay about his experience in the country from a political perspective.

A typical taxi (unmarked)

A higher-end hotel (the Royal Torarica)

STS - Suriname Tourism Foundation

Tourism studies and policies

More tourism studies and policies

Training materials from an EU project in 2004

More training materials

CDs used for training different tourism functions

The MIST system - all the data from tourism arrival cards

The STS building

The CI building

Sunday Extra Edition

The team was out to dinner trying Indian food and ran across the Courtyard by Marriott. We decided to stop in and see if the atmosphere was similar to what is expected in the United States. It turned out to be very similar as the hotel caters to business guests. Debbie set up an interview with the manager on Monday for a follow-up discussion.

Sunday's Update

To give a quick update on Sunday's activities, we spent the afternoon with Ara Travel on a very informal famtrip around the west-side of Paramaribo and towards Guyanna (but we didn't go that far). The guy who runs Ara Travel was the chair of the Chamber of Commerce in Suriname for 10 years and has spent the last 16 years in the business environment. He also has 250+ relatives and seems very well connected. He also has the fantastic idea of coordinating trips with all tour operators to have a complete end-to-end tourism experience as well as bundling tour trips with other countries in the region. He is definitely a good contact to have and one that we will be following up with on a survey or two.

In the late afternoon, the UCLA team in Suriname met to gather our initial thoughts and how to package everything up to share with William and Jody back in the US.  We will likely start compiling what we have on Monday after our last interviews since that is the last point before I leave on Tuesday (at a wonderful time of 245AM).

At this point we feel that the interior/rainforest is definitely a key piece of tourism in Suriname, but we haven't actually seen it ourselves. We are going to see if Debbie and Hiro can make a trip to Brownsberg (near Brokopondo Lake) to at least experience a bit more before we leave. It seems that most tourist activities can be drawn on almost a straight line from Paramaribo, south to Brokopondo Lake (including Brownsberg and Bergndal) and then the Upper Suriname River through Awarradam, Palameu, and ending at Kasikasima (although the last three involve flying out to the southern half of the country in the "bush").

As an additional item to think about; we have been discussing how to classify comparison countries (as we head into that research for Phase 2). We should at least have the five of us fill out a similarity matrix so that we can get a better idea of how we perceive Suriname compares to other countries (including William could be good to get a the perspective of someone who hasn't yet been). It is true that Costa Rica and Belize may be the most similar when you know enough about the country, but most tourists won't know that much about it and may perceive it differently. For instance, they may be deciding between going to Suriname or Tanzania (not Suriname and Costa Rica). So, the plan is to pick the top 10 or so countries that we feel would be good comparisons.

John Kinney

Sunday City Tour

Sunday was an opportunity to see the city and the western side of Paramaribo by car on an informal fam-trip with Ara Travel. The owner has been in the Suriname tourism industry for 15 years and had a wealth of information about the history and current state of affairs. The group drove west into the district of Saramacca and stopped at the city of Groningen for lunch...another great Javanese meal.

The main waterfront area of Paramaribo

The central market of Paramaribo (on the left)

A mosque on the outskirts of the city

One of many canals in the district from former plantations

A very green countryside

Downtown Groningen

The river through Groningen

Javanese cuisine

J 

A party house for the electric utility

More green countryside

Rising supermarket trend from China

Another supermarket from China

One of many car lots to sell new and used cars

Saturday Trip up the Commewijne River

The group took a trip to the east of Paramaribo on Saturday. It was a boat tour along the Commewijne River along with Andrew and Ambica (from Trinidad) who were pitching a tourism development project to the TCT ministry, Nesseley from STS, and Stanley from TCT. The experience gave opportunities for networking and informal discussions throughout the day as well as an opportunity to experience a tourism product first-hand.

One of the first stops was at Warappa Creek, a plantation that has been turned into a school and soon will be an eco-resort as well. The group met Bas Spek who has been building out the resort and is a model of success for starting a tourism business in partnership with the government.

After a trek down a long canal to the ocean, the group stopped for a Javanese lunch at Alliance, one of a few operating plantations left in the country. Citrus is currently the primary crop.

Boarding our river transportation

Ambica (left), Debbie, and Hiro

John

A plantation along the river

Warappa Creek Eco Lodge under construction 

Headed through the narrow channel to the ocean

Scarlet Ibis in the trees along the way

A bird watching station on a giant mudflat along the ocean

Old plantation house at Alliance (an operating plantation)

The road on the way back