IN a bid to advance its hospitality and tourism sectors, more efforts and resources will soon be pumped into the small Amerindian community of St. Cuthbert’s Mission.
This is according to the community’s Deputy Toshao, Leroy Gonputh, who, in a recent interview with the Guyana Chronicle said that, with several development projects on the cards for 2022, tourism will take centre stage.
Since taking office in May 2021, Gonputh said the local authorities secured funding to oversee the rehabilitation of the community’s guest house.
He said the works were 80 per cent completed and will see upgrades to the accommodation facility to create a more spacious and hospitable environment for visitors.
“We have our guest house, which is about 80 per cent completed. All these projects came into effect when we took office which was May of last year. So, from then to now, we had a lot of development that has taken place,” Gonputh said.
“We have a cabin; we have lots of visitors who would come on the weekends. We have a lot of visitors who would come from the coast and outside the country. We have a lot of attractions, so we have to develop our services, “he added.
Currently, the community is home to a privately own eco-lodge and while the community does benefit, Gonputh noted that more accommodation will create greater capacity for expanding the sector.
“We have the Bimichi Lodge, but that is private-owned. We also have the guest house near the creek and we have a lot of attractions there, so we want to improve the facilities there so we can offer more.”
Meanwhile, Gonputh said that, within the last year, sports have played an integral role in the development of the community’s youth and children, with a few of them being given the opportunity to represent Guyana at international games.
“There has been a big boost from sports. Recently, one of our girls made the national team to represent Guyana in the Under-14 Football Championship in Miami,” he said, adding: “Besides that, we had a lot of other girls who were called to trials, and we had about six young males who were called to represent Guyana.”
As such, Gonputh is lobbying for permanent coaching support and upgrades to several sporting facilities in the community.
We have football and cricket taking place here every weekend. We have lots of sports going on right here in our community,” the deputy village chief said.
“With the football, we have a club from Georgetown that comes every weekend, but it would really be nice if the government could assist us with a permanent coach,” he added.
