The German and Swiss Press Team explore Bunce Island Slave Castle as part of their Familiarization Visit to asses the tourism potential of Sierra Leone

The team is hosted by the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs and National Tourist Board.

The group is in Sierra Leone to conduct an empirical and experiential tour of our nation’s rich, unique, and authentic tourism potential that most people refer to as unexplored.

A composite of palm-fringed pristine beaches with hot water for sports and relaxation, breathtaking mountains, tropical rain forests known as the ‘green diamond’ of Sierra Leone and our diverse and vibrant living heritage.

These exemplified resources speak to the character of the nation as one of the most tourism seductive destinations in West Africa that ‘Fam Tours’ like this help to market and promote in a globally competitive industry like tourism that the country is gearing up for.

The Bunce Island Tour conducted by Monuments and Relics Commission for the Press Team is predicated on the fact that it is one of Sierra Leone’s important heritage resource proclaimed in 1948 as National Monument with conservation remit.

The slave fort in the Sierra Leone River is a testament to the monumental significance of the Upper Guinea Coast as a strategic slave export region from the mid 18th Century to the abolition period of the 19th Century.

Bunce Island Slave Castle is a site with great tourism potential especially cultural heritage/root tourism and a channel to mass educate people globally (our African Diaspora included) about the intersection of Sierra Leone specifically and broader Africa and the wider Atlantic world during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade era.

The destination marketing and promotion of the tourism resources after this visit by the team, will further espouse Bunce Island’s Outstanding Universal Value around the world.

Francis Musa Momoh
Research and Development Officer
Monuments and Relics Commission