GEORGETOWN, Guyana—The grand opening of the long awaited multi-million dollar Marriott Guyana Georgetown hotel was yesterday overshadowed by protest action from opposition supporters registering their discontent with the controversial US$58 million project.
It was a fiery opening for the US hotel chain as security was forced to shut the main gates to the hotel shortly after 10 am. This as Greene and his supporters attempted to surge forward as patrons, gathered for the opening ceremony, looked on waiting for the arrival of the President.
The protesters, armed with placards and led by Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Greene, clashed with police outside the Block Alpha, Kingston Georgetown hotel as they broke the official barrier and attempted to invade the opening ceremony.
It is understood one of Greene’s security personnel was arrested in the melee as police tried to remove the supporters and clear the roadway for Ramotar’s entourage. Greene told reporters he was merely exercising his responsibility as Mayor as he protested with a placard outside the hotel.
As Ramotar’s official vehicle drove past the protest outside the main gates, supporters were heard shouting, “Three more weeks, three more weeks. That is all you have.” The protesters were clear as they signaled their intent to remove Ramotar when the country goes to the polls on May 11.
However the protesters failed to dampen the festive atmosphere as Ramotar and Brenda Durham Marriott International Inc. senior vice president and regional general counsel cut the ribbon, officially opening the doors to the country’s first five star international hotel- Marriott Guyana in Georgetown.
Ramotar, who did not speak with the media at the event, lauded the opening of the hotel as a historic moment for Guyana and its thrust towards tourism as he toasted the formal opening of the hotel.
Durham, in her brief remarks, said Marriott was pleased to be part of the project and partner with Government. She said the staff at the hotel were trained by the Marriott group.
Some 203 employees are Guyanese at the near 200 room hotel, which features a pool, in-hotel restaurant and retail shops. The modern hotel also offers a panoramic view of the meeting of the Demerara River and the Atlantic Ocean coupled with an artificial white sand beach.
Tourism Minister Mohammed Irfan Ali, speaking exclusively with the T&T Guardian, said the opening of the hotel places Guyana in a competitive position.
“It gives us an opportunity to compete with T&T for some of the corporate business. Since the construction of the Hyatt in Trinidad, Trinidad has basically run a monopoly in attracting business and they have a good business model in bring conferences and so on to T&T. One of our greatest hindrances to conference tourism and so on has been (not having) a facility like this, (Marriott) gives us that opportunity to enter that market,” Ali contended.
He admitted that the project, which also includes an entertainment centre which is currently under construction, has faced a lot of opposition because of government’s 100 per cent investment.
However he said that Guyana will begin to see returns on its investment soon, especially as it moves to increase its tourism market.
“What this facility also does is gives us the ability to take Destination Guyana into all the Marriott facilities all over the world, because you get into all the Marriott magazines and you get into Marriott marketing plan and that allows us a lot of latitude in terms of advertising and promoting Guyana,” he said.
The opening of the hotel, Ali said, is well timed because Copa Airlines has expressed an interest in expanding its presence in Guyana and the re-branding of Princess Hotel by Ramada.
“That tells you that tourism in Guyana is now kicking,” he said.
Visitor arrivals, he said, has been increasing annually, with a cumulative increase over 18 per cent over the last five years “which is great news for the tourism sector itself.”
He said the facility is also very important in terms of the Peoples’ Progressive Party’s policy direction for Guyana.
“We are moving towards building a new human resource base that would function in the tourism-based industry because we see this as a major growth pole going forward,” Ali added.
The hotel, he said, will raise the current hotel room stock in Guyana from 1800 to 2000 rooms.
Winston Brassington, chairman of Atlantic Hotel Inc. and executive director of National Industrial and Commercial Investments Ltd, said he was overcome with a feeling of accomplishment now that the hotel project is opened.
“ It is a beautiful property, I think from all the feedback I have received it has exceeded all expectations. Now our job is to hand it over to management of Marriott and they will take the lead now. We are now going to move earnestly to that entertainment center,” he said.