Linden youths gain employment in tourism sector
―to benefit from training as tour guides
DPI, Guyana, Thursday, January 2, 2019
With Linden’s tourism sector on the upswing and residents becoming more aware of the opportunities right in their backyard, some youths have established a tour company to share those treasures with others.
The company, Kara Kayaking and Adventurous Tours, has received an overwhelming response from Lindeners, local visitors and members of the diaspora.
Co-founder Devin Sears says while the aim is to promote Linden and Region 10, what makes the venture a success is the fact that it is providing many youths with meaningful employment as trained tour guides and lifeguards. This, in turn, will help reduce the unemployment rate in the community.
Sears says the company is hoping to expand its employment base since there is already a large number of bookings for 2020.
The partners will soon be engaging the Ministry of Business’s Department of Tourism and local stakeholders such as the Linden Chamber of Commerce, to organise training sessions for these young people, many of whom have already shown interest in building a career in the sector.
Sears explained that the tours allow visitors to enjoy a unique form of recreation that is new to Linden, which is a day of adventure in the town’s waterways and hills.
“The objective surrounds primarily promoting Linden’s tourism. We have to cross a stream rock climbing; there are some survival modes that we go through, such as bush cooking, how to identify poisonous and non-poisonous fruits. Then there is a four-hour trek from Nottinghamshire to Richmond Hill, which include hiking up very high hills and so forth,” he explained.
The team is exploring expanding the tours beyond Linden to the wider Region 10, such as to villages up the Demerara River., These include Malali, where there is a beach as well as the Great Falls, where they can ride the rapids. They will also be expanding up the Berbice River and the Linden-Soesdyke Highway.
“The objective is to make Linden the ultimate tourism destination in Guyana because it is just an hour away from Georgetown, the terrain is so vast, you have creeks, rivers, mountain climbing, rapids; there is every single thing you can have when it comes to eco-tourism in Region 10 and of course we have the blue lakes,” Sears outlined.
Kara Kayaking will also be partnering with other agencies within the hospitality industry in Linden for accommodation and dining.
Linden’s hospitality sector has seen a massive improvement over the last year with the establishment of more quality restaurants and food and cocktail bars as well as hotels and guest houses.