Local heritage sites attract 69,000 visitors in 2024

The Culture, Youth and Sport Ministry has recorded visitor numbers to Guyana’s heritage sites as 69,000 in 2024.
Some of Guyana’s heritage sites that were visited in 2024 include St George’s Anglican Cathedral, Fort Zeelandia, the Court of Policy Building, Georgetown City Hall, Shell Beach, among others.
The Culture, Youth and Sport Minister, Charles Ramson Jr, highlighted the soaring figures during his End-of-Year press conference held last Saturday.
“We made investments in our heritage sites, and as a result of that, the number of persons visiting our heritage sites is now 69,000 persons for 2024,” he stated.
However, according to the Minister, while the rising number of visitors can be attributed to the Ministry’s investments, it is also due to the growing demand being met by tour operators which must also be regarded – he gave an example of how the tour operators are highly regarded.
“If you wanted to get a tour operator to book this weekend, to take you to the Essequibo River Tours, you have to wait two weeks. You can’t just go and say you want to book with a tour operator. What does that say? It’s saying that there’s a demand, and that demand is being met by persons who are operating a business,” he explained.
He further noted that this is also significant, especially considering that the businesses being run by these tour operators do not incur costs for the use of Government facilities.
“And they’re using our facilities at no cost. They’re using our facilities for economic activities. That’s millions and millions of dollars they generate weekly just from providing their tour operations,” he added.
On that note, the Minister revealed that Guyana has also recorded a significant number of heritage sites in the Ministry’s database.
“So we now have recorded 39,370 artifacts, monuments, and heritage sites in our entire database. That’s 39,370 artifacts, monuments, and heritage sites within our inventory. These investments that we made—actually, before I get to heritage, let’s speak about the visitors to some of the facilities, like the National Museum.”
Meanwhile, various other cultural and performing arts sites saw impressive numbers as well, with the Umana Yana being a key location for hosting events.
“The National Cultural Centre held 92 events last year, and that includes the preparation time, which means setup, etc. The Umana Yana hosted 45 events last year. The Castellani House held 15 exhibitions,” the Minister highlighted.
He emphasised that these numbers are significant because of the detailed preparation involved in hosting shows and exhibitions at these venues.
“That’s not just the events that were held there. We’re talking about the exhibitions themselves. Fifteen exhibitions were held at the Castellani House, which is more than one a month. That’s not easy to do when you consider the mounting, staging, and preparation required for each exhibition, and then the actual display time, which usually lasts two to three weeks,” he explained.
Additionally, the Minister revealed the recorded visitor numbers for various sites in 2024.
“28,924 persons visited the National Museum last year. The Museum of African Heritage had 7,600 visitors. The Walter Roth Museum recorded 3,279 visitors,” he stated. (G2)