Guyana offers land to build sustainable tourism training facility PDF Print E-mail
Saturday, 09 June 2012 23:52
THE Guyana government has offered the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) land to construct and manage a Caribbean Sustainable Tourism Development Institute to cater for Regional and international sustainable tourism training needs.
The proposed facility would be linked to a state-of-the-art eco-tourism resort so that theoretical training can be combined with practical experience for students.
The offer to provide a facility to cater for Regional and international sustainable tourism training needs was made by Guyana’s Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Irfaan Ali to the CTO’s Council of Ministers meeting during Caribbean Week activities in New York.
Ali, who was heartened by the positive response of his fellow Tourism Ministers, advised that the government is looking to allocate around 10 to 15 acres of land on the East Bank of Demerara.
In addition to the land, the government is offering the exemption of duties and taxes for all materials and equipment required for the construction and operation of the training facility.
Minister Ali, in outlining the offer to the CTO, said sustainable development is linked to environmental management and eco-tourism studies. He said given Guyana’s tourism product and its international profile in the area of climate change, as well as its Low-Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), it is well positioned to make a major contribution to human resources development in sustainable tourism.
He explained that training professionals will come from within the Region and internationally, and attempts will be made to get a high calibre of training professionals who have expertise in the areas to be covered in the curriculum of the proposed institute.
CTO’s Chairman, Richard Skerritt, Minister of Tourism and International Transport for St. Kitts, told a news conference that the organisation will set up a working technical group to move the proposal forward, and see how the CTO can make use of this offer, which includes “generous fiscal incentives” and other support to facilitate its implementation.
Ali said Guyana will push to get this project off the ground soon, so that the CTO can facilitate the building of skills to address the challenging issues that the Region’s faces in the areas of climate change, sustainable tourism development, environmental science and biodiversity.
He said that Guyana is also committed to helping identify sources of financing to make this project a reality.
Last Updated on Sunday, 10 June 2012 00:01
 
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