The push back against COVID-19 continues in the tourism sector with several eco-lodges positioning themselves to return to the business of welcoming tourists.
The lodges are a source of employment for persons in the communities and following the drop in tourist traffic due to COVID-19, their livelihood was negatively affected. The re-opening of these lodges was a long-awaited relief for these communities.
The Canadian High Commission in a release yesterday announced that operators and staff from the Rewa, Surama and Caiman House Eco-lodges have recently completed COVID-19 training and certification to facilitate the re-opening of their eco-lodges to safely bring tourists back to their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wilderness Explorers in collaboration with the Guyana Tourism Authority carried out the training project with funding from the High Commission of Canada. The project, titled “Restarting Tourism: Establishing Health and Safety Protocols for Eco-Lodges to Resume Operations During COVID-19” aims to assist in resuscitating economic activity in the indigenous villages where the lodges are located.
Training took place at the Atta Lodge over the course of three months and focussed on staff safety, guest safety, sanitation practices and emergency care. The Lodge was completely retrofitted so that it could be used as a visual model for participants from all of the lodges. Training sessions included housekeeping, safe guiding techniques, as well as COVID-19 health and safety protocols for kitchens. Guides, cooks and housekeeping staff at Atta Lodge also conducted peer-to-peer training with visiting lodge participants which allowed them to practice the protocols daily.
Atta Lodge operates at a high international standard which helped provide visiting participants additional hospitality training. Visiting trainees were made aware of the high level at which the lodge operated and returned to their own lodges with ideas to implement systems for improvements in housekeeping, guiding, food preparation and management skills.
A key benefit of the training was the opportunity to customise and adjust the training to suit each lodge and each participant. Every lodge is unique; but most importantly, each lodge is currently operating with different challenges and different levels of understanding about COVID-19 and what it means to their community and their tourism business. Understanding these differences between the lodges made the individual approach essential. The training team used this opportunity to clear up many misconceptions about COVID-19 and false news circulating within the communities.
At the end of the training, participants received health and safety products and equipment. These donations, along with the training, enabled the lodges to gain conditional approval from the Guyana Tourism Authority to reopen for business. All of the lodges have independently applauded the team for conducting the trainings and spoke of how beneficial they found it for their respective lodges, families, and communities.
