Tourism association welcomes Marriott hotel | | Print | |
Written by Denis Scott Chabrol |
Wednesday, 28 November 2012 23:35 |
The Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) on Wednesday endorsed the construction of a Marriott-branded hotel in Guyana, saying it is a good move to upscale the fledgling tourism industry still beset by a dirty environment and poor infrastructure. THAG Executive Member, Kit Nascimento acknowledged that the jury was still out on whether taxpayers’ money should be spent on building the 160-room hotel. The cost is pegged at US$55 million. “No matter what your opinion is on that, it will provide Guyana with a high-end room facility which we do not now really yet have and it will bring to our country a premium hotel with an international name from which we are bound to benefit,” he said in remarks at the Guyana Tourism Awards ceremony held at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC). The Managing Director and owner of the Pegasus Hotel, Robert Badal and the political opposition have long questioned the viability of pumping money from the national treasury into the Marriott-branded hotel being built by Atlantic Hotel Inc. when the occupancy rate of existing hotels is just about 30 percent. Government says there is an occupancy rate of 80 percent at peak periods. Another plus for the tourism industry, said Nascimento, is an increase in the number of visiting yachts to the Essequibo River. Ten yachts have visited that waterway within the last three weeks, with the majority of them leaving very satisfied with the Customs clearance on arrival and departure. “Every yachtsman that’s been here tells me- and a lot of them contact me before they come- that we have the most efficient clear-in and clear-out service anywhere in the Caribbean,” he said..(EZ flo for Narco)
THAG also expects that the increase in commercial flights to the Ogle International Airport from the Caribbean, Suriname, Brazil and possibly Venezuela will be a major boost for the industry. While “there has been much to be pleased about,” the THAG official said among the wrongs that need fixing is waste disposal in Georgetown and elsewhere that is an “eyesore and a health hazard.” “It needs to be fixed quickly and promptly and effectively. The diplomatic efforts at cleaning up from time to time are admirable but at the end of the day it’s putting a plaster on a very big sore,” he added. In his feature address, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds said of the garbage situation: "We must do something about this negative behaviour of ours. It doesn't say anything good about us aand it detracts greatly from efforts to promote tourism.The sooner we could change the better." Other desirables on THAG’s ‘shopping list’ include improving the docking facilities at the heritage site of Fort Island, producing a quality destination video, advertising on at least one United States television network, increasing the number of international flights and making the tourism a line-item in Guyana’s national budget. “Overall, progress is being made, good progress. We’re heading in the right direction and we have reason to be pleased,” said Nascimento, a one-time harsh critic and opponent of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) while he was a member of the United Force and information czar for the Peoples National Congress-led administration. |