Tourism activities at St Cuthbert’s Mission advancing
St Cuthbert’s Mission is quickly establishing itself as a tourism hotspot in Region Four.
During a recent interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI), newly elected Toshao, Alvoro Simon, announced that the village created its first-day tour itinerary, and will provide a full experience of the Amerindian way of life.
He noted that the Destination St Cuthbert’s project caters for day and night tours as the village has accommodation facilities.
“You are going to experience the way of life when it comes to hunting, our cultural dances, our poetry, maybe a few stories. We want to make it as inclusive as possible,” Simon stated.
He noted that the new village council is working to revive as much of the culture as possible in the next three years.
“The food as well, cassava bread, the piwari and the cassareep, these are things that we are known for back in the days which is very slowly going away. We want to bring it up back to par where tourists can come here and experience everything flat out when they come to visit the village,” he said.
He noted that there has been increased interest in St Cuthbert’s Mission as a tourist destination, with the community facilitating approximately three tours per week.
Simon noted that the privately owned Bimichi Eco Lodge also boosts the tourism drive in the community.
“The day tour entails transportation, return passage from here to Georgetown, lunch, traditional wine tasting, it entails boat ride, bird watching, and traditional games ,” he noted.
The village council owns a 32-seater bus which is available for rental to take visitors to the community.
Meanwhile, part owner of the Bimichi Eco Lodge, Joshua Mahadeo, stated that there has been a boost in visitors to the community.
“We’re getting visitors coming regularly, a lot of overseas visitors, persons who work with the oil companies have the weekends off [and] they bring their families. We have also observed that there are a lot of holidaymakers who come from England,” he said.
The lodge is currently hosting three persons. Later this week, 53 persons are expected to arrive from different countries for a family reunion.
Mahadeo explained that the itinerary launched by the village is a good initiative.
He also noted the support received from the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) in training opportunities and also the support of the current village council.