GuySuCo hosts inaugural FAMTOUR to Albion-Port Mourant Estate

– tour operators praise the initiative

By Naomi Marshall

GUYANA Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), in its quest to tap into the country’s second largest export sector – Tourism– hosted its inaugural ‘FAMTOUR’ to the Albion-Port Mourant Estate in Berbice; an initiative that forms part of its ‘Cultural and Sugar Heritage Tourism’ programme.

On Saturday, tour operators and media operatives from across Guyana were given the opportunity to experience the aesthetics-rich heritage that exists within Guyana’s biggest sugar estate.

The initiative is in keeping with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) – led World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism Programme.

The ‘Cultural and Sugar Heritage Tourism’ programme is GuySuCo’s newest business line.
Rama Persaud, GuySuCo’s Commercial Manager, in an interview with Guyana Chronicle, explained that after the Sugar Industry was downsized – moving from seven sugar estates to three – the corporation sought new and alternative means to gain revenue. She said while assessing the possibilities, GuySuCo realised that it was “sitting on a gold mine which can be shared with visitors while creating revenue for the company at the same time.”

“We (GuySuCo’s representatives) realised that we have to look at other means of diversifying, so the idea of tourism came when we recognised our culture and history. You cannot think of Guyana without sugar and rum, almost everybody drinks rum and rum is being made from sugar and so the history of GuySuCo will continue to be there,” she explained.

But Persaud made it clear that GuySuCo is not moving away from its core business of sugar production. However, it is making use of all the products it has to offer, including its culture and history.

Representatives from Wilderness Exploders, Evergreen Adventures, Eco Travel, Rainforest Tours, Visit Rupununi, Dagron Tours and the Guyana Tourism Authority were among persons who participated in the ‘FAMTOUR’ to the Albion-Port Mourant Estate in Berbice.
The participants were given the chance to witness the sugar production and view monuments and landmarks within the estate. They were also given the opportunity to travel in the ‘lorry and passenger punt,’ and sit in the world’s last working 1921 Rolls Royce Goshawke, among other adventurous activities.

Salvador De Caires, representative of the Wilderness Explorers, said that the initiative is what his entity has been searching for year after year.

“I think this tour is wonderful, I think it was something we had been looking for years and years because throughout the Caribbean, everybody has rum tours and sugar tours. It is one of the important parts of Caribbean tourism and we never use to do it here,” he said.
De Caires added that the tour would be a great weekend trip “for locals, the diaspora and the international market which is something unusual.”

Albion Estate was established in the second half of the 19th century. The Estate lost its singleness and became known as Albion-Port Mourant Estate, following the closure of the Port Mourant Factory in 1953. This amalgamation formed the largest operating unit within the local sugar industry.

The first-ever tour to be held by GuySuCo was held at the Uitvlugt Factory, located on the West Coast of Demerara.

Apart from the Albion-Port Mourant Estate and the Uitvlugt Factory, tours will be conducted at the Blairmont Estate, as well as the La Bonne Intention (LBI) Head Office to be used as dual sites, meaning that they will serve as production or profit and service centres, as well as tourism sites.