A local tour company is embarking on a multi-million dollar project to construct a hotel, an eco-resort and spa and an amusement park.
El Dorado Tours is collaborating with overseas-based partners for the ventures, pegged at over US$100 million, owner of the tour company Lynn Medford told Stabroek Weekend.
The partners are hoteliers from the Maldives, India Sweden, and here in Guyana and include an eco-resort chain.
Medford explained that they have experience from closely working on some big name hotels, resorts and amusement parks, including Walt Disney World, and Universal Studios.
If all goes well, the hotel project, which will be located in Georgetown, is expected to begin by the middle of next year and completed by the end of 2022 once some degree of normalcy returns after the global pandemic.
Speaking on the amusement park, which they plan to build on one of the islands in the Essequibo River, Medford, shared that her company intends on keeping it El Dorado-themed, referencing the legends that have been shared for centuries of Guyana being rich with gold. The park will boast rollercoaster rides as well as ferris wheels, she noted, while adding that they know that there are persons who are afraid of taking the boats, so they will be looking into having flights from the city to the location.
For the eco-resort, which will be situated at Long Creek, along the Soesdyke-Linden highway, where land has already been set aside, they plan to offer a pork knocker’s experience for tourists. “It’s going to be sustainable [and] built according to international standards. We want our eco-resort to be as eco-friendly as possible, where we’ll depend mainly on renewable energy resources. We want to promote as much of Guyana’s rich resources, cultural diversity and animals,” Medford explained.
Medford also shared that El Dorado Tours is looking go strictly cashless. “We’ll be having a strict card system within the adverse commerce system,” she said. Visitors will be given cards they can top up at any time. The card will give them access to utilise the various services offered by the company. Every time the card is used, the owners are given points which, when enough is accumulated, will allowed them to enjoy the service of their choice.
She noted that so far they have sent out surveys and the feedback has been great, while adding that some of the respondents are in awe at their plans and are anxious for what they propose.
El Dorado Tours started as a university project while Medford was at the University of Guyana in 2013. Following her graduation in 2016, it became an online business platform that offered packages to international destinations. Medford explained that in every country she visited, including countries in Europe, in Africa, North America and in the Caribbean, she sought to create partnerships with the relevant people in the tourism industry.
The business was established in June last year and when Guyana was listed as the number one Eco-tourism destination in the world, the company considered doing local tours. It became the first company to offer to offer a hike to the top of Kaieteur Falls from the bottom. Most local tour companies, she said, have been only offering packages to the top of Kaieteur Falls but El Dorado Tours wanted to do something different. The idea of the hikes to the top of the falls has since been welcomed by numerous visitors to Guyana.
