Mbanza Kongo - The Historic Centre of Mbanza Kongo, in Zaire Province, elevated to World Heritage status in July 2017, recorded 7,519 tourists in 2023, both domestic and foreign, an increase of 2,463 compared to 2022.
Speaking to ANGOP on Monday, the head of the Museum of the Kingdom of Kongo, Kediamosiko Toko, clarified that of this number of tourists, 364 are foreign citizens from the United States of America, Brazil, Portugal and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
With regard to domestic tourists, he said that 9,486 visitors from different parts of the country had been recorded during the period under review, with the ruins of Kulumbimbi, the Museum of the Kingdom of Kongo, the secular Yala Nkuwu tree and Tady dya Bukikwa being the main monuments and historical sites visited.
He explained that the increase in the number of domestic and foreign tourists to the Historic Centre of Mbanza Kongo was fundamentally due to the partnership established with eight tourism agencies based in the country's capital, Luanda.
He explained that these agencies promote packages for visits to the Historic Centre of Mbanza Kongo that include transport, tour guides, hotel reservations and other services, adding that the partnership is helping to boost, promote and publicise this historic centre, which has been inscribed on the World Heritage list on July 8, 2017.
The official expressed his desire to extend this partnership to more agencies, including abroad, with the aim of spreading the word about Mbanza Kongo's historic centre.
He also said that the role of the National Plan on Tourism (PLANATUR), which also aims to make public some activities to be held in Mbanza Kongo from 2024 to 2025.
Kediamosiko Toko informed that since November 2023, the Museum of the Kings of Kongo has been called the Museum of the Kingdom of Kongo, as a result of the museum's new organisational status.
The status granted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism also gives administrative and financial autonomy to this reservoir of the collection of the former Kingdom of Kongo.
He added that the new organisational status will streamline the museum's operations, allowing it to hire more technicians and make permanent some employees who until now are only collaborating.
The Museum of the Kingdom of Kongo exhibits 92 art pieces in its galleries that portray historical, geographical and political aspects of Kongo, as well as its social and economic organisation.
The opening up of the Kingdom of Kongo to the world through its diplomacy, the materials and objects used by the ancestors and sovereigns, including gifts from the kings of Portugal, are also on display in this museum. DA/PMV/JL/MRA/DOJ
