Likely number of visitors for Cricket World Cup uncertain
But LOC moving ahead with Bed and Breakfast, Trailer Park accommodation plans
Stabroek News
December 1, 2006
With less than four months remaining before Guyana hosts the largest number of overseas guests ever to visit these shores for a single event, uncertainty persists as to the likely number of persons who will travel to the country to witness the Super Eight round of the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Earlier this year the Local Organizing Committee for the event had provided a speculative figure of 37,000 visitors. However, Stabroek Business understands, those numbers, at least up to this point, are still not matched by ticket sales and that the actual number of visitors may be less than the number earlier projected.
When Stabroek Business spoke with Nicholas Oudkerk, the LOC's Project Officer, Visitor Experience earlier this week he said that the local secretariat could not accurately determine the likely number of visitors but emphasized that this uncertainty was in no way inhibiting plans for receiving and hosting Cricket World Cup visitors next March.
Oudkerk is one of the key figures in the Bed and Breakfast Secretariat set up several months ago to coordinate arrangements for non-hotel accommodation. He told Stabroek Business that the Secretariat had already secured 1000 of the targeted 2000 - 2500 rooms that it was seeking to make available for Cricket World Cup and that the remaining rooms were likely to be secured by the end of December or early in January.
Oudkerk disclosed that of the 1000 Bed and Breakfast rooms secured so far 47 per cent were located in Georgetown while 36 per cent were located on the East Bank, Demerara. A further 12 per cent of the rooms are located at homes on the East Coast Demerara with 5 per cent located on the West Bank and West Coast Demerara.
The highest concentrations of Bed and Breakfast accommodation is located at Diamond and Grove on the East Bank, Demerara and in Kitty.
Asked whether the LOC was satisfied that the Bed and Breakfast hospitality standards would satisfy visitor expectations Oudkerk said that he has seen some of the facilities and was satisfied that they would meet the required standards. He disclosed that the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) had already commenced a training programme for persons likely to host Cricket World Cup guests and that the Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED) would also be mounting a training programme that was likely to include Bed and Breakfast hosts.
Oudkerk said that the LOC had held discussions with local commercial banks on the matter of making loans available to persons wishing to upgrade their existing facilities and that the banks had agreed to examine loan applications on a case by case basis based on recommendations made by the LOC.
IPED has also given a public commitment that it is prepared to open its lending facility to would-be Bed and Breakfast hosts on the condition that they satisfy the institution's customary lending requirements.
Meanwhile Oudkerk told Stabroek Business that the Trailer Park accommodation project announced earlier this year was going ahead with the blessing of the LOC and the support of a number of service agencies in Guyana. Oudkerk said that the United States-based Hilbourne Projects International has been in consultation with the National Parks Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPI), the Mayor and City Council, the Guyana Water Authority, Go-Invest, the Guyana Fire Service and local waste management companies regarding the trailer park initiative. A prototype of the Trailer Park has already been built and according to Oudkerk the facility should be ready by the end of January. Plans are also proceeding for an outdoor accommodation facility to be set up by the local scouts association. Asked whether the LOC had received any specific requests for outdoor accommodation Oudkerk said that persons in New Zealand and South Africa had shown an interest in such accommodation.