Roraima celebrates fifteenth anniversary

The Roraima Group of Companies is to establish a new boutique hotel at Timehri as part of what the Company’s Managing Director Captain Gerry Gouveia says is a move “to further commit Roraima to Guyana’s travel and tourism industry.”

“Our services to Suriname and Venezuela will require Roraima Airways to use the Cheddi Jagan International Airport as a transit point for people travelling to the Caribbean and North America. The new hotel reflects what is part of the Roraima culture of “integrating the services” that the company offers to the travel and tourism industry.

The disclosure coincides with the commemoration of the fifteenth anniversary of the establishment of the company. Roraima was set up in November 1992.

In an extended interview with Stabroek Business Gouveia said that the company’s move to establish the new hotel is designed “to strengthen the tourism and hospitality component of Roraima which includes both the accommodation and aviation services of the company.”

Roraima’s operations include local and regional cargo and passenger flight services, an international travel agency service and a ground handling operation service at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri. The company also operates its own hotel and restaurant service at its Bel Air Park complex as well as a nature resort – Arrow Point – in the Kamuni Creek. The most recent addition to Roraima’s range of services is a new executive lounge at the Timehri Airport.

Roraima Airways is also a member of the local Aircraft Owners Association and Captain Gouveia said that the company is “integrally involved” in ongoing work to transform Ogle into a modern international airport. He disclosed that the company has completed work on its new office complex and ramp at Ogle.

In reviewing the progress made by Roraima since its establishment Gouveia told Stabroek Business that while the company had grown appreciably since its establishment he believes that his own choices as its owner and Managing Director have placed limits on the company’s growth. He explained that he had taken a deliberate decision to spend eight years immersing himself in the development of the broader Guyanese business community through his involvement in the work of the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG), the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) at leadership levels.

He said that his decision to apportion time to these organizations has derived from his own perception of the concept of “social responsibility.” According to Gouveia the concept, apart from its “altruistic side” also had to do with helping to create a broader environment in which businesses like Roraima and other businesses can thrive. “It is not possible for a single business to survive for any length of time in a ‘bubble of prosperity’ if the broader environment in which it exists is falling apart,” he said.

According to Gouveia while a number of businesses were now “buying in’ to the ISO14000 concept of social responsibility, this has been “a way of life” for Roraima from its inception. “We did not adopt this concept because it was fashionable to do so. It is one of the foundations on which the company was built,” Gouveia said.

Gouveia said that while he intended to continue to serve the local private sector through its various institutions, Roraima had now entered a “consolidation phase” in which it was seeking to build on what had already been established. He said that among the immediate priorities of Roraima was the strengthening of its aviation sector through the acquisition of new aircraft and the consolidation of local and domestic passenger and cargo services. “Frankly, we are probably about five years behind our plan for the strengthening of the company’s aviation sector,” Gouveia said.

Gouveia said that the accomplishments of the company were also reflected in what he described as its “massive ground handling operations at Timehri International Airport” which he said provide ground handling services for both international carriers and private aircraft. He noted that the company’s new Executive Lounge at Timehri reflected “both an accomplishment for Roraima as well as an enhancement of the services that Guyana offers at its only international airport.”

Roraima’s move to strengthen the aviation component of its operations has also been reflected in its involvement in the multi million dollar Europeaan Union-funded Ogle Airport Development Project which envisages the upgrading of the Ogle facility to the level of an international airport capable of handling flights from the region. Gouveia said that as part of its involvement with this project Roraima had completed the construction of a new office complex and ramp at Ogle.

In July this year the company commenced a five times weekly courier service to Port-Of-Spain under contract with the international courier service FEDEX. “We believe that this service is particularly important for the local business community. It means that a business enterprise in Guyana can mail a package here in Guyana at 10:00 am and by the same evening it could be joining an aircraft for Europe or the United States. The service also allows businesses in Guyana to receive packages that were posted in the United States the previous evening.”

Roraima Airways, along with Air Services Ltd. operates a Medivac service which transports emergency cases to Georgetown from interior locations. Gouveia says that the Medivac service was “a signal reflection of social responsibility since while it is a service that is paid for the risks that are sometimes involved in flying in the interior at night “simply cannot be compensated for.”