Dear Editor,
The top 10 largest hotel groups in the world are Intercontinental Hotel Group, Wyndham Hotel Group, Marriott International, Hilton Hotels, Accor Group, Choice Hotels, Best Western, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Carlson and Global Hyatt (tourism-review. com).
Marriot is a global quality brand hotel at number three in the world, and such a property in Guyana will immediately give confidence to the soon-to-arrive global executives.
For investments in the Republic of Guyana, global corporation teams will visit Guyana for their due diligence work, discussions and investigations, and one of the first items for their action will be their hotel accommodation reservation, which usually will set the tone for the arriving guests to Guyana.
On July 19, 2010, Guyana and Kuwait signed five bilateral agreements setting the stage for firmer ties during a short visit by Prime Minister, His Highness Sheikh Nasser Mohamed Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The prime minister and a delegation of 66 arrived in Guyana as part of a tour of Latin America and the Caribbean that also took in Cuba, and were accorded an official red carpet welcome on the tarmac of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
However, during the visit, due to lack of adequate hotel accommodations, the visit lasted two hours instead of a possible two days.
That accommodation deficiency should be corrected, if Guyana is to attract high quality investments and high quality executives who will need to visit Guyana for their discussions, examinations and agreements.
The current disagreement between the government, the opposition parties, hoteliers, investors and other interested persons should be facilitated in a forum with free, fair and frank deliberations, for the way forward for the Marriott’s opening in Guyana.
The seven top hotels in Georgetown are the Pegasus, Princess Hotel and Casino, Cara Lodge, Roraima Duke Lodge, Herdmanston Lodge, Grand Coastal Inn, and New Tropicana Hotel – they all create employment and pay taxes, and are all providers of their best facilities, accommodation and services, but with all due respect, none of them is a global brand.
Trinidad and Tobago supported, encouraged and helped with financing for their very attractive Hilton and Hyatt Hotels.
Guyanese, the government and opposition parties can all agree that Guyana’s economic transformation is achievable with key infrastructural investments in roads, power, hotels, human development, and an attractive investment climate to enable Guyana’s riches in water, land and minerals to be employed in added value operations for job creation, quality of life, food security and well-being.
The vision of Guyana’s founding fathers for “One People, One Nation, One Destiny” with its six races working collectively, cooperatively and caringly to achieve economic, social and financial successes are all attainable.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Shamir Andrew Ally