Government is a step closer towards establishing the platform that will provide training for 6,000 Guyanese by the Barbados tourism and hospitality sector.
The first set of training will be a hybrid of virtual and in-person and is expected to be rolled out within the next two weeks, acting Guyana Tourism Authority Director, Kamrul Baksh told Stabroek News.
“So far we have met with the counterparts in Barbados, Alison Peacock from the National Transformative Initiative, which is a project that was launched by Barbados to up-skill Barbadians. So we feel we can tap into this programme as well, where Guyanese can up-skill [themselves],” Baksh explained. According to Baksh, the arrangement with the Barbadian hospitality sector is to start the training online and then transition into practical training.
“We will be tapping into a plethora of courses really, for marketing, digital marketing, from data analysis and collection to food and beverage, everything that you need to know in tourism and hospitality. We will have that content available on this online platform,” he explained.
Master trainers from the island will be in Guyana and will provide guidance in the practical aspects to those who would have passed the theoretical training. For this, Baksh said they will be utilizing local hotels and accommodation to conduct the practical training. The practical phase of the training is expected to commence by the fourth quarter of this year.
“We are in the final stages of development on the platform. We want to give you the perfect interface, the user profile so that you know when persons go on it, it is very easy. It is just a username, sign up and a password. It is a simple profile and then you’ll be able to access these programmes. It is self-paced and there’s an evaluation component at the end of each of those programmes. And then you can self-generate your certificates,” he explained. Additionally, the GTA has also designed short training courses to build capacity within the hospitality sector.
In their line of programming, the GTA is aiming to train at least 2,000 persons in different skillsets, including mixology, hygiene, service delivery, taxi driving etiquette and First Aid among others. Some 903 persons have so far been trained from these short courses, which places GTA on schedule to achieve its goal. The arrangement with Barbados was announced in October last year following bilateral discussions between President Irfaan Ali and Barbados Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, on the sidelines of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development on the island. Ali had told a press conference, following those discussions, that Barbados, whose economy relies heavily on tourism, had agreed to train 6,000 Guyanese for the hospitality sector as part of a framework for enhanced collaboration.
World-class
“You know Barbados has an established, world-class hospitality programme and they are going to support us in training of 6,000 Guyanese who will function in the hospitality sector…we have to move aggressively with the 6,000 Guyanese because we have a lot of investment in the hospitality sector that is coming and we need to have the technical capacity, [and] the human resources to manage and to the work in those hotels,” he explained. Questioned as to whether Guyanese would be travelling to the island to participate in training opportunities, Baksh said they are “pursuing that initiative.”
“We are pursuing that option with the PomMarine College and the Barbados Hospitality Institute to see if you could have an arrangement where persons would go. But I think you know, learning in your own environment is advantageous where you know you have your own facilities here and you are familiar with them, and you have the expertise and guidance and mentorship of those trainers. So we’re prioritizing that model,” Baksh said.
The GTA Director emphasised that with most of the facilities available here, the trainers’ expertise is intended to illustrate what needs to be done. “We have the facilities here in Guyana. It’s just that we need the institutional capacity or the person’s knowledge and capacity to share with others what has been done,” he said. With the right guidance, he said that trainees will be exposed to the high standard and quality of service that requires replication here. Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Oneidge Walrond sat in on the interview with this newspaper. A team, comprising members of the public and private sectors, was given the mandate to identify the relevant training courses. The team has been working to determine how best the training will be conducted and propose possible commencement dates.
With government’s drive for a larger hospitality sector here and several new hotels slated for construction, the Irfaan Ali administration has been working to have Guyanese trained and positioned to secure jobs. In a previous interview, Walrond highlighted that at a time when there is a buzz over the creation of a strong local content policy and the need for Guyanese to benefit from the emerging sectors of the economy, equipping locals with the skills is of the utmost importance for the government. Asked if hotel developers are not the ones that should be investing in the training of their employees, the minister stated that the government has to ensure the skills and services are available, leaving no room for the importation of employees to do the jobs locals can.
“We want to be able to say, ‘We have our people; they are trained and ready…’ They are our people, they are Guyanese. We continue to make the point that local content is where companies should go, even though they are private investors. We are not going to encourage them bringing foreigners to do the jobs our people can do…,” said Walrond as she emphasised that the necessary infrastructure to support local content must be in place. She stated that with the locals trained in the sector, hotel brands can move forward with specific training aligned with their franchise without having to start from scratch. The discussions [with the Barbados tourism and hospitality sector] are centred on costs [related to the training], training methodology, the number of batches to be trained at a time, and whether persons can be trained to transfer knowledge to fellow Guyanese at home, among other things”, she said.
Several international hotel chains have signalled their intentions of setting up operations here.
