Investing in and preserving Nature-Based Tourism (NBT) is crucial in driving Rwanda’s economic growth as well as generating multi-sectoral benefits, according to the World Bank.

This was highlighted in the Rwanda Economic Update report by the World Bank which is themed ‘Making Most of Nature-Based Tourism in Rwanda’, released on February 21.

NBT means experiencing natural resources in a wild and undeveloped form. Over the past decade, 80% of tourists who came to Rwanda for leisure or for business visited national parks.

Despite the different economic hurdles that the country faced, Rwanda’s economy grew by 8.4% in the first three quarters of 2022, spurred by the revival of tourism.

Rolande Pryce, Country Director of the World Bank, recommended that more efforts be put in managing and enhancing tourism demand as well as diversifying the tourism aspect and experiences.

“We also would want the government to focus on increasing the number of arrivals, diversifying product offering. This way, we keep investments in community-based tourism and support for SMEs as suppliers of products and services in the value chain,” Pryce said.

According to the report, for every US$1 million that NBT activities inject into the economy, an additional 1 328 new jobs are created.

The Minister of Environment, Jeanne D’Arc Mujawamariya, noted that tourism needed to be strengthened without negatively impacting the natural resources and animals’ habitat.

“We need to ensure our natural assets are well protected to prevent the risk of infections. We also need to ensure communities are always at the heart of our conservation efforts,” Mujawamariya said.

The report highlighted that, besides gorilla tourism, new NBT activities needed to be developed alongside efforts to expand tourism, including water-based, urban and adventure tourism.

Private-sector role

The report highlighted that involving private-sector investment was critical to promote nature-based tourism in the country.

Financing, estimated between US$97.5m and US$107.7m is required for sustainable management of the natural resources, ecosystems and biodiversity that underpin NBT by 2030.

“It will be important to rely on diversified sources of financing for both the public and private sector, including debt and non-debt instruments, and to establish the policy framework required to encourage investment in NBT,” the report indicated.

Commenting on the private sector’s participation in financing and operating facilities to support growth of NBT, Mujawamariya said this meant introducing innovative financing methods to secure the necessary investment and removing subsidies that contributed to environmental degradation.