C/R castles bagged over 500 million cedis revenue last year

Cape Coast, July 15, GNA- The Cape Coast and Elmina castles in the Central Region last year, received a total of 62,920 visitors and earned 500.9 million cedis as revenue.

Mr Raymond Orison Agbo, Regional Director of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB) who told the GNA in an interview on Thursday at Cape Coast said, 76,231 people visited the castles and 528.8 million cedis was realised as revenue in 2002.

He said from January to June this year, a total of 42,449 people made up of 9,579 foreign and 32,870 Ghanaians visited the two castles and an amount of 251.3 million cedis was realised.

Mr Agbo said 16,276 foreigners and 46,644 Ghanaians also visited the castles last year.

He expressed the hope that more people would visit the castles during this year's Emancipation Day celebration and advised Ghanaians, particularly those living along the coast to develop an interest in visiting monuments such as the castles.

Mr Agbo however, expressed concern about how people living near the castles defecate along the beaches and urged then to desist from that practice.

He said many people would be visiting the two castles, but gave the assurance that everything would be done to meet the demands of tourists to the castles.