Gov’t pledges to make Victoria a tourism hub

The PPP/C Government has pledged to honour Victoria as the first village by highlighting tourism destinations from within the community.

This was announced by Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Oneidge Walrond as she assured that the people of Victoria will not be excluded from the development taking place.

The minister also committed to working along with groups from Victoria to develop initiatives that will bring more recognition to the village.

“It is not an attempt to disregard the fact that Victoria is the first village it is something that we are proud of. We pledge, I pledge to work along with any group from Victoria that has the initiative to highlight, to bring more recognition to Victoria. We are proud of the heritage of Guyana, and Guyanese in all of the regions. But, we are here in Victoria and we certainly will work with you to bring more tourists to Victoria,” she stated at a ministerial outreach at the Victoria Community Ground on Saturday.

Minister Walrond told residents that the government is committed to evaluating sites within the community to display the diverse heritage of the first village.

A similar initiative is being executed in Buxton, at the Buxton Museum.

“Sometimes all it takes is the residents to come and say look this is the initiative that we have to highlight to bring tourists to Victoria…We will help you to develop a product so we will work along with you to refine your product, bring the tourists to the site, and add it to the calendar. This is just the beginning of a future engagement,” Minister Walrond noted.

Meanwhile, the minister said support will be given to small business owners to be more involved in economic activities when tourists visit Guyana.

To this end, she committed to having representatives of the Small Business Bureau train residents in developing their own business proposals or assist in generating business ideas that can create economic opportunities for them and the community at large.