Newly-appointed Minister of Business Haimraj Rajkumar, who has responsibility for tourism, was on Friday evening welcomed by stakeholders in the tourism industry at a cocktail reception, where he noted that significant input is needed to lift the standard of Guyana’s tourism product.
At the reception, hosted at Cara Lodge in Georgetown by the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG), President of the association Mitra Ramkumar welcomed the newly appointed minister. Ramkumar said Guyana’s place as the number one eco-tourism destination can be attributed to the work that was done by former Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin. “I must credit this to the former minister, Dominic Gaskin, who has listened to the private sector and has created an enabling environment,” he told the gathering.
According to Ramkumar, the association was the first private sector organisation to meet with the Ministry of Finance during the 2019 budget consultations. He said that as a result of that, the establishment of the Hospitality Institute came about. “I can point you to one accomplishment we would have had— that is the establishment of the Hospitality Institute. It’s going to be done through the Ministry of Education and funded by the Caribbean Development Bank. The government has allocated two and a half acres of land and have signed the contract for the design phase and it’s going to mimic the operation of a four star hotel,” Ramkumar said.
