Months after the announcement of training for 6,000 Guyanese from the Barbados tourism and hospitality sector, those opportunities are yet to be realized and Minister Oneidge Walrond told this newspaper that it is still a work in progress.
In a brief telephone interview with Stabroek News on Sunday, Walrond, the Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce explained that the technical teams from both countries are still fine-tuning the arrangements for the planned training of Guya-nese within the next two years. She noted that during the course of this week the Guyana team should provide her with an update on progress made.
The team, comprising members of the public and private sectors, were given the mandate to identify the focal areas and identify the relevant training courses. The working team is also expected to determine how best the training will be conducted and propose possible commencement dates. Discussions were delayed as Barbados celebrated its new Republican status and Independence last year, and their Elec-tions earlier this year. The arrangement with Barba-dos was announced in October last year following bilateral discussions between President Irfaan Ali and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley on the sidelines of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development that was hosted on the island.
Ali told a press conference, following discussions with Mottley, that Barbados, whose economy relies heavily on tourism, has agreed to train 6,000 Guyanese for the hospitality sector as part of a framework for enhanced collaboration.
“You know Barbados has an established, world-class hospitality program-me and they are going to support us in a training of 6,000 Guyanese who will function in the hospitality sector…we have to move aggressively with the 6,000 Guyanese because we have a lot of investment in the hospitality sector that is coming and we need to have the technical capacity, [and] the human resources to manage and to the work in those hotels,” he explained. In a subsequent interview, Walrond highlighted that at a time when there is a buzz over the creation of a strong local content policy and the need for Guyanese to benefit from the emerging sectors of the economy, equipping locals with the skills is of the utmost importance for the government.
Asked if hotel developers are not the ones that should be investing in the training of their employees, the minister stated that the government has to ensure the skills and services are available, leaving no room for the importation of employees to do the jobs locals can. “We want to be able to say, ‘We have our people; they are trained and ready…’ They are our people, they are Guyanese. We continue to make the point that local content is where companies should go, even though they are private investors. We are not going to encourage them bringing foreigners to do the jobs our people can do…,” said Walrond as she emphasised that the necessary infrastructure to support local content must be in place.
She stated that with the locals trained in the sector, hotel brands can move forward with specific training aligned with their franchise without having to start from scratch. The discussions [with the Barbados tourism and hospitality sector] are centred on costs [related to the training], training methodology, the number of batches to be trained at a time, and whether persons can be trained to transfer knowledge to fellow Guyanese at home, among other things.
Several international hotel chains have signaled their intention of setting up operations here. These include the Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott and Radisson Blu. Currently, two hotels, Marriott Courtyard at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri and Aiden Hotel by Best Western have entered the construction phase. A few others have signed Memoranda of Understanding with the government to begin construction.
