Above: the new Guyana Marriott Hotel Georgetown
By the Caribbean Journal staff
Marriott has officially opened its first-ever hotel in Guyana.
The property is located in the country’s capital, Georgetown, with views of the crossroads of the Demerara River and the Atlantic Ocean. It includes a total of 192 rooms and five suites across nine floors, along with 11 meeting rooms and 8,321 feet of meeting space and a pool, according to Marriott. It also features a restaurant called Terra Mare, a pool bar and grill and a “Great Room.”
The hotel welcomed its first guest on Wednesday morning, with Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh calling the debut an “extremely exciting and momentous moment for all Guyanese.”
He said Guyana’s government was “delighted that the company viewed Guyana as a place where they would like to do business.”
The hope is that Marriott’s debut could present a major boost for the country, whose tourism industry is based largely on eco-tourism but has been steadily growing in recent years.
In fact, Guyana managed to attract almost 206,000 arrivals in 2014, according to data from the Caribbean Tourism Organization.
The hotel will provide jobs for around 250 people, according to the government, and about 100 indirectly.
The $51 million project first launched in November 2011.
It’s the brand’s second new hotel in the region to open this year, following the debut of the Marriott Port-au-Prince in Haiti in February.