2023-11-22 06:35:52
If there was one who was impatiently waiting for the Misses on the tarmac at Cayenne airport, it was Jean-Luc Le West. Sunday, November 19, the charismatic director of the Guyana tourism committee was among the dancers and musicians to welcome the thirty candidates for the Miss France 2024 election, who had come to make their preparatory trip.
“We have never experienced this welcome on the tarmac on a Miss France trip. It was incredible,” commented the General Director of the Miss France company, Frédéric Gilbert, during the press conference organized the next day. “I am a chauvinist but I must admit that the welcome in Guyana has surpassed that of Guadeloupe! », conceded Indira Ampiot (Miss France 2023). Even Miss Guyana, back at home, was surprised: “I knew we were going to have a warm welcome, the committee had told me in advance, but I didn’t think it would be to this extent. . »
Arrival with fanfare for the candidates for the Miss France 2024 election in Guyana, at Cayenne airport, November 19, 2023. © Marine Corviole/Parismatch.com
If the candidates of the class of 2024 were entitled to a welcome carnival, it was because the tourist office and the regional committee of Miss Guyana had reason to celebrate, they who were eyeing the Miss society France for three years for the Miss trip to be held here. The last editions took place in Polynesia, in Reunion, then in Guadeloupe, the French Overseas Territories where tourists flock every year, regardless of whether the Misses paraded in swimsuits a few months earlier. But in Guyana, the passage of candidates – in swimsuits or not – can have an impact on the local economy. At least, that’s what Jean-Luc Le West hopes…
Alicia Aylies called in for reinforcement
“Guyana needs visibility. This operation aims to show another image of the region, to promote its biodiversity, its fauna and its flora, but also the women and men who live in this territory, in a strong multiculturalism. It is important for us to remember that Guyana is a French, European land, that it is a gateway to and exit from South America and the Amazon. We are the lungs of France”, comments the man who judiciously negotiated with France Télévisions the broadcast of the program “Echappée Belle” dedicated to Guyana two weeks before the arrival of the Misses, and that of “Our unknown lands”, on the same theme, two days earlier.
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Nathalie Nou-Chaïa Vernet (president of the Miss Guyana committee), Frédéric Gilbert (general director of the Miss France company), Cindy Fabre (director of the national Miss France competition), Indira Ampiot (Miss France 2023) and Alicia Aylies (Miss Guyana 2017 ) during the press conference for the arrival of the candidates for the Miss France 2024 election in Guyana, on November 20, 2023 in Cayenne. © Marine Corviole/Parismatch.com
Another spokesperson of choice, Alicia Aylies, Miss Guyana 2016 elected Miss France 2017, was also present to welcome the candidates on Sunday evening in Cayenne. “It’s important for us to show off our beautiful Guyana. Many are skeptical when we talk about our region. The Misses are there to talk about their experience on their social networks, to talk about it with their family, their friends…”
Jean-Luc Le West, president of the Guyana tourism committee, during the Miss France press conference in Cayenne, November 20, 2023. © Marine Corviole/Parismatch.com
Her “little sister” Audrey Ho-Wen-Tsaï, Miss Guyana 2023, is also on an immersive mission. She also gives a well-practiced campaign speech: “We suffer from this image of a ‘green hell’ and the trip will help restore the image of the region. I want to promote it to the other candidates, so that they have stars in their eyes so that they can then talk about it to those around them,” announces the one who plays tourist guide with pleasure, even when it comes to reassurance his comrades about the threat of the “little beasts”.
It’s not the little beast that will eat the big one
Snakes, insects and spiders as big as an adult’s hand can also be part of the welcoming committee. Visit the gateway to the Amazon, yes, spend a Mike Horn-style vacation, to reflect… “Little creatures, there are some, but I think we have to put all that very far to the margins. There are ways to repel them, not eradicate them,” reassures Jean-Luc Le West. And the big ones? “Animals are more afraid of you than you are of them. The greatest danger in the forest is us humans. There has never been a jaguar attack on a human being, ever, it only attacks quadrupeds. »
Target 250,000 tourists by 2030
Jean-Luc Le West
The worrying wildlife, the bleak image of the penal colony that immediately comes to mind when we talk about Guyana, the lack of infrastructure, the absence of beaches with translucent water… So many elements that slow down tourist bookings. But the department intends to open up to tourism, not mass, but niche, focused on biodiversity.
“Today we have 110,000 tourists per year, for 300,000 inhabitants. Objective 250,000 tourists by 2030. Beyond? I don’t know if we want it. We want to do tourism, but quality tourism. Many of my compatriots would like to have, like the West Indies, a million tourists per year, but we do not have the infrastructure, nor the country to do so,” adds the president of the tourism committee, which supports the development of lodges or of private accommodation.
The tourism committee, the regional committee of Miss Guyana and the Miss France company have, hand in hand, designed a dense program for the candidates’ week: meeting with the animals of a zoo-refuge, camp night in the middle of the forest , visit to the Kourou space center and the Iles du Salut, cooking workshop… So many activities during which the Misses will not only have to shine to try to win the crown, but to make Guyana shine.
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