How will our new hotels fare?
Stabroek News
December 29, 2006
The surfeit of new hotels that have 'shot up" in Georgetown and its environs in less than two years has probably calmed the nerves of those who were beginning to wonder how we would accommodate the anticipated thousands for next year's Cricket World Cup. The advent of the new hotels reflects the vigour of investor response to government's offer of duty-free concessions on equipment and materials associated with the construction and renovation of hotels.
And while one does not wish to discourage the new hoteliers it has to be said that the erection and equipping of structures is only one half of the equation and that there are other issues that have a critical bearing on whether or not these new investments in the accommodation sector will serve the country well.
The first issue is of course the question of viable patronage beyond Cricket World Cup. We know, for example, that it is probably unlikely that Cricket World Cup will unleash a subsequent tide of tourists in its immediate wake and even in the longer term the experts in the industry are saying that given the nature of the Guyana tourism product we will probably not see a groundswell of tourists turning up in Guyana at least in the foreseeable future.
Some of the investors with whom Stabroek Business spoke appear confident, nonetheless, that the market is big enough even in the absence of continual waves of tourists. They are, it appears, pinning their hopes on, among other things, local patronage and regional business travel. Arguably, we can assume that they did their homework before making those multi-million dollar investments.
Then there is the question of hotel standards. Can all of our new hotels conform to international standards of service? Are there sufficient numbers of trained hotel workers to staff the new hotels? Are there sufficient good hotel managers in Guyana?
What about the question of regulation? Will the current wave of new hotels see the hastening of legislation that will lead to regulations like the grading of hotels or will those new facilities - like the older ones - simply be allowed to operate based on self-imposed standards?
What we can be certain of is that in the absence of regulation some will fall by the wayside and there are few things that are likely to "kill off" the country's fledgling tourist industry faster than a reputation for poor hotel service.
It is also apposite to wonder whether the planning permission for the erection of these new hotels took account of issues of zoning given their proximity to private residences and issues relating to their own ambience.
Interestingly, most of the new hotels offer no more than twenty rooms and given what we are told is the popularity of smaller hotels with tourists these days - the prevailing wisdom is that smaller hotels offer more "hands on," intimate and quick service - those that can combine those virtues with high service standards may stand an excellent chance of "cashing in" on visitors.
Of course vigorous marketing will provide those hoteliers who are prepared to make the investment with a distinct advantage since the recent significant increase in the number of hotels will obviously mean stiffer competition for patronage. Marketing will require particular skills and considerable financing especially in those cases where overseas customers are the major target.
In essence, therefore, while the new hotels are a welcome sign of a measure of local investor confidence they bring with them challenges that will require a collective response by the investors, the government and the private sector as a whole. Those as yet unmet challenges will have a bearing both on investor returns and, in some measure, the fate of the country's tourism industry.