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Small, medium-sized hotels crucial to Guyana

Dec 02, 2008 News

There have been several major infrastructural projects over the last two years, many prompted by Cricket World Cup (CWC) last year and then Carifesta last August.
A lot of emphasis was placed on hotels and other kinds of service-type industries.
In reviewing the development of the tourism industry, Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Office for Investment (Go Invest), Geoff DaSilva, noted that several small hotels and restaurants have been built.
According to him, the sale of Buddy’s International Hotel is about to be concluded and they are looking at an international brand; and the construction of another major hotel is being discussed with some investors.
In relation to the Cacique Hotel and the Marriott, he said the owners are looking at how they can get the projects going.
Da Silva added that after the heightened activity of hotel construction for CWC, this year, GoInvest is working with those small hotel investors, to see how well they are doing and to consolidate their businesses.
According to him, some of them may not continue in tourism, but this is to be expected. He added that when operating in a very competitive economy, the basis for survival will be on how well a person is able to adjust and adapt to changing circumstances.
However, Da Silva noted that this does not mean that the number of hotels being built is decreasing. Go Invest is currently facilitating more small hotels.
He stated that Go Invest is trying to work with the investors who are pulling out, to find new buyers for the businesses.
“We see that the small and medium-sized hotels are absolutely essential and most important for the sustainable development of tourism in Guyana,” Da Silva contended.
It has been said that the hotel industry in Guyana is not doing well because very few genuine tourists visit. The majority of visitors are overseas-based Guyanese who stay with relatives.
Da Silva does not agree. According to him, instead of complaining, hoteliers should praise the Government for spending more then US$5M to organize Carifesta, which filled all of the hotels for two weeks.  “All the hotels were filled during Carifesta.”
He noted that the money was spent to help the development of music and other culture in Guyana, as well as the tourism industry. “Those were the two direct beneficiaries.”
Da Silva also said that, before Cricket World Cup, anybody who wanted to do a major conference in Guyana found it hard; there were only 300 rooms.
According to him, at present there are about 1000 rooms, and Carifesta would not have happened with 300 rooms. “We were able to increase our supply of rooms so that we could organise and accommodate people for Carifesta or international conferences.”
Secondly, he added, the Government, through the Ministry of Tourism/Guyana Tourism Authority, is constantly looking for different types of events to encourage more people to come to Guyana.
He noted that in some countries hotels lower their prices to accommodate locals during slow seasons.
“We need our hoteliers to look at that too, it is not going to be at high occupancy every single day of the year; it’s going to go up and down, so we have to first of all devise a strategy to deal with that, and secondly we have to continue to work with the Government to find other ways of bringing people here.”

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