2024 could be the first real test of Guyana’s still ‘on trial’ tourism sector
find some appropriate way to explain/justify the extension that will probably be required to finish the job.
Two thousand rooms in less than a year – given all the various other distractions that obtain – is almost certainly what we in Guyana usually refer to as ‘a stretch.’ Not that that should have prevented the Tourism Minister from doing her recent walkabout, “inspecting works” at the “boutique-style edifice” that is the Robb and Oronoque Streets’ Aiden Hotel that is currently being built. The reality is that we are simply going to have to live with the anomalies that have become part of an unfolding pattern, assured in the knowledge that come hell or high water, we are ‘getting there.’
“The contractors have assured us that by May this project will be completed,” is what the Tourism Minister reportedly said upon completion of her recent inspection. Our only response here is that while we are in no way dismissive of the assurances given by the contractors, we believe that we are altogether entitled to the view that Minister Walrond is pushing her luck. Meeting deadlines is not an accustomed trait of local contractors. Mind you, The Stabroek Business, like the Minister, sincerely wish that that the Aiden and the various other edifices of its kind will be ready on time for this year’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL) cricket tournament though we strongly suspect that some of our contractors are likely to ‘fluff’ their timelines.
But Minister Walrond can hardly afford to do nothing more than to see the Aiden through to the end. As the saying goes, she has other equally big fish to fry… like how to get that icon of local tourism, the Rupununi Rodeo, to work for the investors in the event and how to ‘fix’ the Agri Expo in such a way that it not only assumes a more eye-catching overtone but also that the Agro Processors ‘make money.’ Tourism, we know she is aware, is not only a decorative mechanism. It is a business. Then there is Mash! We are told by officialdom that last year’s returning Guyanese and visitors numbered 319,056 persons, “a record-breaking total” we were informed. The authorities went further, describing those numbers as “a clear testimony to the growth of the tourism and hospitality sectors.”
That, decidedly, without the necessary probe, could well be far from true. Still, and leaving aside those who would force or even distort the issue, the portents are promising. ‘Mash’ and our usual oil and gas fora, will bring their own batches of visitors and these two events will provide the country’s ‘new look’ tourism effort with the first real test of its mettle.