The information from the Rwanda state that the Rwanda Development Board tourism department has refuted all rumors going around the country that the tourism sector has been greatly affected by the on going wars in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Cong. there are rumors going on that the number of tourists have reduced due to fear of being attacked and hurt while in the jungle tracking gorillas something that is not true at all especially since all tracking grounds in Rwanda and areas close to Congo a re very safe.
According to Rica Rwigamba who is the Head of Tourism and Conservation at RDB, there has not been any reduction in the number of tourists and all those that they expected have come and the industry has also realized an increase in the amount of revenues that they receive in a year by about 11%. Basing on the reports the industry has already generated US$128.3m compared to US$115.6m generated within the same period of January to June last year thus no way has the industry been negatively affected by the wars in Congo.
She also mentioned that Mountain Gorilla tracking as an activity contributed the highest amount of revenue as well as the highest number of tourists in the country who book to see these exceptional species that live in the Virunga Mountains. The Virunga Mountains are shared amongst Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda however; the safety in Rwanda has not only ensured safety of Gorillas but helped the constant flow of tourists. Just last year, gorilla tacking generated $9.6 million out of a total of $252 million revenues generated from the tourism industry.
Rwigamba also said that this improvement is as a result of peace and maximum security. Visitor safety is guaranteed as usual. She assured visitors to Rwanda that it is safe and secure to travel to Rwanda. There are 493,744 visitors who have visited Rwanda since the beginning of this year and this is about 22% compared to the same period in 2011. There is also 16% increase in leisure visitors and also an 8% increase in business visitors. As far as the investment promotion is concerned, the tourism sector has already registered projects which are worth $ 184.1m since the beginning of this year in January 2012 and these projects are projected to create 1,328 jobs for the people in the country who are jobless thus development.
Gorilla tracking news