The NEW GPC INC/ Limacol Caribbean Premier League (LCPL) on Wednesday evening copped the President’s Award for Investment in Tourism, as the Tourism Ministry hosted its annual awards ceremony at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown.
The award comes as NEW GPC continues to demonstrate vision and courage in investing its resources in the tourism sector.
NEW GPC was successful in its bid for the Guyana franchise for the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and subsequently secured the title sponsorship for the T20 tournament resulting in the event being renamed Limacol CPL.
The Guyana Amazon Warriors were one of six teams who participated and one of the finalists in the recently concluded inaugural Limacol CPL. The team were named in keeping with Guyana’s pursuit of the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), which has as one of its core objectives, the preservation of the Amazon rainforest and the environment in general.
The Limacol CPL was based on a franchise system similar to that used by the Indian Premier League (IPL) and other professional sports. The Amazon Warriors team comprised both local and international players, coached by Roger Harper, former West Indies all-rounder, and legendary fast bowler Curtly Ambrose.
With Limacol CPL being beamed across the globe, tourism stakeholders concurred that the investment would have given Guyana tremendous international tourism exposure.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, currently performing presidential duties, presented the awards to two representatives of the NEW GPC – Marketing Manager Trevor Bassoo and Human Resources Manager Faye Smartt-Scott.
In an invited comment, Basso stated that the company is “elated” to have been nominated for, and eventually won, the award. He said the award comes at an opportune time and the company welcomes the honour.
Over the years, the NEW GPC has been supporting cricket in particular and sports in general throughout Guyana. Basso told Guyana Times International that the Limacol CPL 2013 was, by far, one of the largest and most celebrated events across the Caribbean.
“On behalf of the executive chairman, the board of directors, management and staff of NEW GPC, I want to thank Tourism Minister Irfaan Ali, the Tourism Ministry and the Guyana Tourism Authority for the award,” Bassoo said.
Several other persons and companies were also given awards for their outstanding contributions to the tourism sector. Colin Edwards received the award for Pillar of Tourism Industry; Leon Moore was named the Tour Guide of the Year; and the Tourism Entrepreneur Award went to Frank Singh.
Leader of the popular Tradewinds band, Dave Martins was given the Tourism Ambassador Award and the Mangrove Reserve Producers Co-op was given the Most Outstanding Community Tourism Project Award. Stacey Dos Santos-Rahaman received the Destination Guyana Promotion Award and Conservation International, the Community Based Tourism Development Award. The tourism recognition awards went to Grand Coastal Inn for Service in Tourism Establishment, Loaknath Singh of King’s Jewellery World for International Event Promotion, and Garage De Eenhied for the Largest Inbound Operator.
