The Ministry of Education has signed over a contract for the design of the first ever Hospitality and Tourism Institute in Guyana.
The project is being funded by the Caribbean Development Bank and the Government.
The total cost of the contract is $52.3M and will facilitate cost estimates of the institute and prepare maintenance plans.
The state of the art Hospitality and Tourism Institute is expected to mimic a four-star hotel with features such as fine dining, banquet halls, classrooms, and recreational facilities such as a tennis court and swimming pool.
The Institute will be equipped to the Caribbean Vocational Qualification standard and will be located at Providence, East Bank Demerara.
The Project Coordinator Theron Siebs said the Consultancy firm, Deen + Partners in association with CEP and Leverage Consulting Limited, have a duration of five months to complete the designs.
“It’s in recognition to growing demand for proper services in the hospitality sector, so this is a response to that.”
The Project Coordinator said Guyana is fortunate, as the only other places in the Caribbean region with institutes such as this is Barbados and St. Vincent.
At the signing of the contract on Thursday at the Ministry of Education Boardroom on Brickdam, Minister of Education Nicolette Henry said persons will receive professional training to provide quality services in the hospitality sector.
The Minister said, “It’s been a long time in the making, this project actually was supposed to have started much earlier, it is an important project for us particularly as we are getting to oil and gas and we are expecting large numbers of people coming to Guyana.”
The official design of the institute will start seven days from the signing of the contract and according to the Consultant, Deen Kamaludeen, his very able team will ensure delivery of the designs within the specified timeframe.
“We hope to have with the guidance from Mr Siebs and his team, we can have a huge amount of consultation to define the specific needs of the Hospitality Institution in Guyana,” Kamaludeen said.
