Training manuals to generate career interest in tourism
Efforts at generating interest in the pursuit of tourism sector careers got a major boost this week when training manuals were presented to the Ministry of Education and a number of educational institutions. The manuals were presented by Tourism Minister, Geoffrey Da Silva at the Ocean View Hotel, Liliendaal on Wednesday in the presence of representatives of the agencies which sponsored the manuals. Expressing appreciation on behalf of the Government of Guyana to the donors for helping to finance the project, Da Silva said that the guide will assist school children, youths and other persons to learn of the many careers in the tourism industry which is the fastest growing in the world. The publication of the manuals was commissioned by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) and financed by the Organisation of American States (OAS), the Barbados-based Canada Fund for Local Initiative and the European Union (EU). The ministry, he said, will work with the recipients of the manuals through seminars and workshops and in whatever way that may be necessary. The manuals, he pledged, will be put to good use as the local tourism sector will be seeking more funding which is there to be tapped. He noted that careers in the industry are not only available locally but also in the Caribbean which has a tourism-dependent economy. Pointing out that tourism career opportunities are possible in other parts of the world, he cited the example of a Guyanese who holds the top post in the premier hotel in the Rockies in Canada. The ministry is encouraging domestic tourism as a means of creating employment as well, Da Silva said, while it also seeks to encourage more Caribbean people to visit Guyana in the short and medium term. Observing that intra-regional travel is about 28 percent at present, the minister stated that "we need to focus on the Caribbean region and North America and then Europe." According to the Director of the Tourism Division, Tessa Fraser, the manuals are essential since the Caribbean region depends on tourism for economic development. However, it faces increasing competition from North America, Europe and Asia and elsewhere. First Secretary in the Canadian High Commission, France Asselin, said that she was pleased that the Barbados Canada Fund's assistance has spread regionally. The locally-based Canada Fund, she said, is currently looking at initiatives to assist in the area of tourism, including a current review of the possibilities existing at the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development. Also in brief remarks, the EU Delegate, Vincent De Visscher, noted that the Union is at present working with the Caribbean Tourism Regional Sector Programme which includes human resource development that would be enhanced by the manual. Director of the local OAS Office, Michael Wyllie, felt that the tourism sector in the country is beginning to move. He noted the part the OAS has played in financing the study for the establishment of a tourism authority which is due to come on stream shortly. Wyllie said that a Canadian volunteer of NETCO Canada is currently on a six-month stint in the country working with small hoteliers to develop websites to promote their businesses. Regionally Guyana is involved in the Caribbean sustainability and awareness project which is yet to come on stream here, Wyllie said. However the project is already underway in the islands. Guyana, he noted, is also included in another multilateral heritage tourism project which was put forward by St Vincent and the Grenadines. This project is also due to come on stream. Receiving the manuals were Chief Education Officer, Ed Caesar, on behalf of the Ministry, Executive Director of the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana, Donna Short-Gill, Coordinator of the Tourism Studies Unit of the University of Guyana, Donald Sinclair, Principal of the Cyril Potter College of Education, Savitri Balbahadur, and Principal of the Carnegie School of Home Economics, Roxanne Benjamin-Hoppie. (Miranda La Rose)
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