The High Commission of Canada continues to support Indigenous communities in Guyana during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the launch of the project “Restarting Tourism: Establishing Health and Safety Protocols for Eco-Lodges to Resume Operations During COVID-19”.
Caiman House Eco-lodge
This project will support Indigenous community-based eco-lodges to safely bring tourists back to their communities after a 9-month COVID-imposed hiatus and also provide best practices that can be useful to others within the sector.
In March 2020, the tourism industry in Guyana was brought to a standstill as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent closure of the airports. This severely affected Indigenous communities in Guyana’s tourism regions whose primary source of income is tourism.
With the recent announcement of approvals in Guyana to restart the industry, the “Restarting Tourism: Establishing Health and Safety Protocols for Eco-Lodges to Resume Operations during COVID-19” project was formulated to provide staff, villagers, transportation providers and tour operators at the identified eco-lodges with the training needed to operate during COVID-19.
The project, which is being executed by Wilderness Explorers Guyana, will work with the Rewa, Surama and Caiman House Eco-lodges. Training will include staff safety, guest safety, sanitation practices and emergency care, along with the transferring of knowledge for the community and other staff within their lodges and neighbouring lodges which is essential for long term success.
Training sessions will be done at the Atta Lodge, located in the Iwokrama Rainforest Reserve. The project will also work closely with the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) and the Health Ministry to ensure that the lodges are locally and internationally COVID-compliant and the protocols are sustainable for the sector. The training will be timely and beneficial to the communities to strengthen their position as viable eco-tourism service providers as more attention continues to be placed on the sector.
At the conclusion of the training, each participating lodge will receive a manual to take back to their communities to be used as a reference guide on health and safety protocols. Each lodge will also receive cleaning and sanitisation supplies to support the implementation of sanitisation practices at their facilities.
At the High Commission, Charge d’affaires, Janine Cocker, said: “Canada is pleased to support this effort to ensure both safety and economic security of communities that have worked hard to build up their tourism industry.”
Project activities are scheduled to commence in early January and be completed by April 2021.
This project aligns with the Government of Canada’s support for economic resilience in vulnerable communities. The High Commission has worked with many Indigenous communities in the past to support economic development. This includes a partnership to establish the Paramakatoi Food Processing Training and Research facility that produces Sundried Tomato Ketchup and Sundried Tomato Salad Dressings and supporting two farine factories in Wowetta and Moco Moco, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) to promote food security and enterprise development amongst women agro-processors.
