In late 2024, the Wanderlust Adventures GY company of Georgetown, Guyana announced a proposal to sponsor tours to the area of the North West District where the community of Jonestown once stood. The proposal was one of seven announced on November 29, 2024, by the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA), which are intended to offer a variety of “Destination Guyana” experiences to both domestic and foreign tourists.
The tour would include a round-trip airplane flight, accommodations in the nearby town of Port Kaituma, a visit to the area that the jungles have reclaimed from the Peoples Temple Agricultural project, and – as the promotional materials for the effort promise – “firsthand accounts from a witness of the tragic event.” The three-night package also includes other recreational activities, such as hikes, river tubing, and birdwatching in one of Guyana’s most remote areas.
The proposal was a controversial one – several accounts referred to it as an example of Dark Tourism and compared it to tours of Nazi concentration camps – as the comments in the press coverage and the letters to the editor of Guyana’s largest newspaper, the Stabroek News, illustrate.
Despite the criticism, the tours began in January 2025.
Articles on Guyana proposal for Jonestown tours, 2024
Guyanese Perspectives on Jonestown as Dark Tourism Site
Why Jonestown should not be turned into a “tourist attraction”, an editorial by Marc Shuman