Tourism authority, standards legislation for parliament next month
by Miranda La Rose
The Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Industry is working towards legislation governing the establishment of a tourism authority/board and the establishment of standards for the fledgling industry to be tabled in Parliament by the end of next month. In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Minister Geoffrey Da Silva told Stabroek News that it would be ideal if the two pieces of legislation were passed in parliament and the board established before the Caribbean Tourism Organisation's (CTO) `Sustainable Tourism Conference'. The five-day CTO conference starts on May 18. The draft legislation for standards and categorisation and for the establishment of the tourism authority have already been prepared. Da Silva said that once the bill making provision for the establishment of the board had been passed, the general guidelines and regulations would come into effect and the board fully constituted. The ministry, he said, was currently in discussion with the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) on the composition of the board. The board would be reflective of some of the people involved directly in the industry and companies that provided certain products and services as well, he said. Da Silva said that the legislation in relation to standards and categorisation of resorts was a key element in the development of standards in the industry, as well as the training of personnel at every level and the promotion of the local tourism product. At present, he said, when queries were made about the standard of the hotels in Guyana, no one could say whether the hotels were five-star, four-star or tri-star. The standardisation and categorisation, he said, was important to the industry and had to be done in collaboration with the private sector. For sometime THAG has been lobbying for the establishment of a tourism authority/board to market the tourism product, coordinate tourism development planning and facilitate the implementation of infrastructural mechanisms, among other goals. Meanwhile, the Minister said, the ministry was preparing documents to invite tenders for the rehabilitation of the Chess Association Hall on Main Street to house the Tourism Authority. He said that there were a few problems encountered in the preparation of the tender documents but the invitation should be advertised by month end. The European Union is to fund the restoration of the Chess Association hall to the tune of 100,000 Euros. And government has already agreed to house and fund the tourism authority for a period to be agreed on. Giving an update on the identification, mapping and development of tourism locations in the country, Da Silva said that the Guyana Defence Force had done a significant amount of work on this exercise. The mapping of sites started in December and it was anticipated that a preliminary report would be given to the ministry some time next month. He said that this exercise included a number of sites with tourism potential, including rivers, creeks, waterfalls, flora and fauna in key communities and outside of established communities. It also took into consideration accessibility by means of land and water. After the preliminary report was submitted, Da Silva said that areas would be prioritised and further discussions would be held with the relevant communities. An advisory committee comprising representatives of various government ministries, private sector bodies and civil society was to be established to counsel government on the way forward in relation to the final report to be submitted by the army on the mapping and identification exercise.
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