The Role of Communities in Developing Sustainable Tourism in Rwanda
Keywords:
Community Involvement, Community based Tourism, Tourism Development, Sustainability
Abstract
Over the years, views on tourism have changed from pleasure seeking activity to a mere economic activity. Today, tourism is the major source of income and economic activity for developing countries. It generates employment, foreign exchange earnings, and also supports in development of infrastructure of the destination. Tourism may also have potential in addressing socio economic issues through sustainable tourism development. Local community participation in tourism activities has also become one of the major principles of sustainable tourism. Tourism is a people oriented industry and its major functions depend on human resources. Tourism is a major source of employment and it has all the capabilities in contributing towards the livelihood of the local community by providing employment and involving them in all kinds of tourism activities. The major objective of the study is to find out how local communities are involved in various activities and practices adopted by resorts for the development of the local community.
Tourism in Rwanda is the largest source of foreign exchange earnings in Rwanda and was projected to grow at a rate of 25% every year from 2013-18. The sector is the biggest contributor to the national export strategy. Total revenue generated from the sector in 2014 alone was USD 305 millions. Tourism in Rwanda is rapidly increasing. The economy is growing with tourism leading the export sector; however communities around tourism sites continue to live in poverty. This paper explored the participation in and contribution of the local population to tourism development. The main objective of the study was to assess community participation in tourism development and its role in poverty reduction among the indigenous people living around tourist destinations in Rwanda. Research in this study was conducted with the help of secondary data.
References
1. Amerta, I. M. Suntastha “Community Based Tourism Development,” International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (IJSSH), vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 97–107, 2017.
2. Aref,F. (2011). Sense of Community and participation for tourism development. Life Science Journal, 8(1).
3. Ashley, C., & Roe, D. (1998). Enhancing community involvement in wildlife tourism: Issues and challenges. 11. IIED.
4. Ballesteros, E.R. & Ramirez, M.H. (2007). Identity and community: reflections on the development of mining heritage tourism in southern Spain. Tourism management, 28(3), 677-687.
5. Bao, J. (2008), Tourism and Community Development: Asian Practice, United Nation World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) (Spain) 978-92-844-1194-8.
6. Bell, C. and Newby, H. (1976) Communion, communialism, class and community action: the sources of new urban polities’ in D.Herbert and R.Johnson (eds) Social Areas in Cities, vol. 2. Chichester: Wiley.
7. Bramwell, W., Henry, I., Jackson, G., Prat, A., Richards, G. and van der Straaten, J. (1998) Sustainable Tourism Management: Principles and Practice. Tilburg: Tilburg University Press (2nd edn).
8. Breugel, L. V. (2013). Community-based tourism: Local participation and perceived impacts a comparative study between two communities in Thailand. (Master's thesis).
9. Bushel, R. and Eagles, P. (Eds.). (2007). Tourism and Protected Areas: Benefits beyond
Boundaries. London CAB International, UK.
10. Cernea, M. (1991), Putting people First: Sociological Variables in Rural Development, Oxford University Press, Second Edition, New York.
11. Chaisawat, M. and Chamnina, W. (2006). The Assessment of Assistance Measures to Tourists after the Tsunami 26 December 2004 in Phuket: Prince of Songkla University, Phuket Campus, Thailand 15 December 2006.
12. Choi, H.C. & Sirakaya, E. (2006). Sustainability indicators for managing community tourism. Tourism management, 27(12), 1274-1289.
13. Cohen, Joel E. (1995) Population Growth and Earth’s Human Carrying Capacity. Science, New Series 269 (5222): 341-346
14. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (2020). The tourism value chain: Analysis and practical approaches for development cooperation projects. GIZ. Bonn.
15. EDPRS1-Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning MINICOFIN. 2007 and 2011.
16. Ertuna , B., & Kirbas, G. (2012). Local community involvement in rural tourism development: The case of Kastamonu, Turkey. PASOS. Revista de TurismoyPatrimonio Cultural ,10(2), 17-24.
17. Estaben R. B. and Macarena H. R. (2006), Identity and Community Reflections on the development in Mining Heritage Tourism in Southern Spain: Annals of Tourism Research, 33(1), 115-121.
18. Gilmour, D, A., & Fisher R, J. (1991). Villagers, forests and foresters: The Philosophy, process and practices of community forestry in Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal: Sahyogi Press.
19. Goodwin H & Santilli R (2009). Community-Based Tourism: a success? ICRT Occasional Paper 11. International Centre for Responsible Tourism. Leeds Metropolitan University.
20. Government of Rwanda [GoR] /UNWTO, 2009.
21. Halstead, L. (2003) Making community-based tourism work: An assessment of factors contributing to successful community-owned tourism development in Caprivi, Namibia, Dea research discussion paper, Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Environment and Tourism
22. Hannah Nielsen and Anna Spenceley, April 2010. The success of tourism in Rwanda –Gorillas and more: Background paper for the African Success Stories Study PP2, 8.
23. Hillery, G. (1955) Definitions of community—areas of agreement, Rural Sociology, 20, 111–23.
24. Khanal, B.R. & Babar, J. T. (2007) Community Based Ecotourism for Sustainable Tourism Development in the Mekong Region, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Hanoi resource centre
25. Lash, C. and Urry, J. (1994) Economies of Signs and Space. London: Sage.
26. Laura Ashley Annual Report, 2007
27. Laws 1995; Dann 1996; Cole 1997; Taylor and Davis 1997. Tourism Destination Management: Issues Analysis and Policies.
28. Li, W. (2006), Community Decision-Making Participation in Development: Peking University, China [online] Retrieved on September 21, 2007 from www.sciencedirect.com.
29. M. S. Amerta, “Sustainable tourism development,” International Research Journal of Management, IT and Social Sciences, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 248–254, 2018. [Online]. Available: 10.21744/irjmis.v5i2.674;https://dx.doi.org/10.21744/irjmis.v5i2.674
30. Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning [MINECOFIN], 2007 P.30.
31. Muganda, M., Sirima, A., & Ezra, P. M. (2013). The role of local communities in tourism development: Grassroots perspectives from Tanzania. J Hum Ecol, 41(1), 53-66.
32. N. Rizkianto and T. Topowijono, “Penerapan konsep community based tourism dalam Pengelolaan daya tarik wisata berkelanjutan (Studi pada Desa Wisata Bangun, Kecamatan Munjungan, Kabupaten Trenggalek),” Jurnal Administrasi Bisnis, vol. 58, no. 1, pp. 20–26, 2018.
33. Oh, C. & Hammitt, W. (2010). Determining economic benefits of park trails: management implications. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 28, (2), 94-107.
34. Okazaki, E. (2008). A community-based tourism model: its conception and use. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 26 (5), 511 – 529.
35. Our Common Future: World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, 1987) p27
36. P. Hall 1996, Hospitality; Travel and Tourism 4th edition
37. Palmer, C. and Lester, J.A., (2005), Photographic Tourism: Shooting the innocuous making meaning of tourism photographic behavior Niche Tourism Contemporary issues, trends and cases. Oxford, Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.
38. R. Musaddad, S. Pratama, and Wahyuni, “Pembangunan Pariwisata Berkelanjutan di Indonesia,” Dinamika Administrasi: Jurnal Ilmu Administrasi dan Manajemen, pp. 73– 93, 2019.
39. Report by SNV-Rwanda. 2009a, 2009b.
40. Report by SNV-Rwanda. 2009a, 2009b.
41. Report of the Rwandan Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM) 2009 P30
42. Roberta, M. and Lee, J. (2003), Cultural rural tourism Evidence from Canada: Annals of Tourism Research, 30(2), 307-322.
43. Sandbrook, 2009. Community Management of Natural Resources in Africa
44. Sebele, L.S. (2010). Community-based tourism ventures, benefits and challenges: Khama Rhino Sanctuary Trust, Central District, Botswana. Tourism management, 31(3),136-146.
45. Simpson, M.C. (2008). Community benefit tourism initiatives: a conceptual oxymoron. Journal of Tourism Management, 29(6), 1-18.
46. Spenceley, A. (2008). Responsible tourism: critical issues for conservation and development. London: Earthscan. 330 p.
47. Stoinski et al., 2007 Primates and Cetaceans Field Research of Complex Mammalian Societies. https://books.google.rw/books?id
48. Taylor, G. (1995) ‘The community approach: does it really work?’ Tourism Management, 17, 487–9.
49. Tosun, C. (2006). Expected nature of community participation in tourism development. Tourism Management, 27(3), 493-504.
50. UN Commission report on Sustainable Development [CSD], 1999.
51. UNDP report 2003.
52. United Nations (2011) World Population to reach 10 billion by 2100 if Fertility in all Countries Converges to Replacement Level, United Nations Press Release Embargoed until 3 May 2011, NEW YORK TIME, Available at: http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Other-Information/Press_Release_WPP2010.pdf (accessed 7 May 2011)
53. United Nations. World Tourism Organization. (2004). Tourism and poverty alleviation: background. http://step.unwto.org/en/content/background-and-objectives. Date of access: 12 May 2013.
54. Urry, J. (1995) Consuming Places. London: Routledge.
55. Viljoen, J. & Tlabela, K. (2007). Rural tourism development in South Africa: trends and challenges. Cape Town: Human Sciences Research Council. 3 p
56. World Wildlife Organization (WWF) (2001) Guidelines for community-based ecotourism development, WWF International (Switzerland)
57. WTO. (2007), Tourism an Economic and Social Phenomenon [online] (http://www.world-tourism. org/aboutwto/why/en/why.php?op-1)
58. Zahra, A. & McGhee, N.G. (2013). Volunteer tourism: a host community capital perspective. Annals of Tourism Research, 42(12), 22-45.
2. Aref,F. (2011). Sense of Community and participation for tourism development. Life Science Journal, 8(1).
3. Ashley, C., & Roe, D. (1998). Enhancing community involvement in wildlife tourism: Issues and challenges. 11. IIED.
4. Ballesteros, E.R. & Ramirez, M.H. (2007). Identity and community: reflections on the development of mining heritage tourism in southern Spain. Tourism management, 28(3), 677-687.
5. Bao, J. (2008), Tourism and Community Development: Asian Practice, United Nation World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) (Spain) 978-92-844-1194-8.
6. Bell, C. and Newby, H. (1976) Communion, communialism, class and community action: the sources of new urban polities’ in D.Herbert and R.Johnson (eds) Social Areas in Cities, vol. 2. Chichester: Wiley.
7. Bramwell, W., Henry, I., Jackson, G., Prat, A., Richards, G. and van der Straaten, J. (1998) Sustainable Tourism Management: Principles and Practice. Tilburg: Tilburg University Press (2nd edn).
8. Breugel, L. V. (2013). Community-based tourism: Local participation and perceived impacts a comparative study between two communities in Thailand. (Master's thesis).
9. Bushel, R. and Eagles, P. (Eds.). (2007). Tourism and Protected Areas: Benefits beyond
Boundaries. London CAB International, UK.
10. Cernea, M. (1991), Putting people First: Sociological Variables in Rural Development, Oxford University Press, Second Edition, New York.
11. Chaisawat, M. and Chamnina, W. (2006). The Assessment of Assistance Measures to Tourists after the Tsunami 26 December 2004 in Phuket: Prince of Songkla University, Phuket Campus, Thailand 15 December 2006.
12. Choi, H.C. & Sirakaya, E. (2006). Sustainability indicators for managing community tourism. Tourism management, 27(12), 1274-1289.
13. Cohen, Joel E. (1995) Population Growth and Earth’s Human Carrying Capacity. Science, New Series 269 (5222): 341-346
14. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (2020). The tourism value chain: Analysis and practical approaches for development cooperation projects. GIZ. Bonn.
15. EDPRS1-Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning MINICOFIN. 2007 and 2011.
16. Ertuna , B., & Kirbas, G. (2012). Local community involvement in rural tourism development: The case of Kastamonu, Turkey. PASOS. Revista de TurismoyPatrimonio Cultural ,10(2), 17-24.
17. Estaben R. B. and Macarena H. R. (2006), Identity and Community Reflections on the development in Mining Heritage Tourism in Southern Spain: Annals of Tourism Research, 33(1), 115-121.
18. Gilmour, D, A., & Fisher R, J. (1991). Villagers, forests and foresters: The Philosophy, process and practices of community forestry in Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal: Sahyogi Press.
19. Goodwin H & Santilli R (2009). Community-Based Tourism: a success? ICRT Occasional Paper 11. International Centre for Responsible Tourism. Leeds Metropolitan University.
20. Government of Rwanda [GoR] /UNWTO, 2009.
21. Halstead, L. (2003) Making community-based tourism work: An assessment of factors contributing to successful community-owned tourism development in Caprivi, Namibia, Dea research discussion paper, Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Environment and Tourism
22. Hannah Nielsen and Anna Spenceley, April 2010. The success of tourism in Rwanda –Gorillas and more: Background paper for the African Success Stories Study PP2, 8.
23. Hillery, G. (1955) Definitions of community—areas of agreement, Rural Sociology, 20, 111–23.
24. Khanal, B.R. & Babar, J. T. (2007) Community Based Ecotourism for Sustainable Tourism Development in the Mekong Region, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Hanoi resource centre
25. Lash, C. and Urry, J. (1994) Economies of Signs and Space. London: Sage.
26. Laura Ashley Annual Report, 2007
27. Laws 1995; Dann 1996; Cole 1997; Taylor and Davis 1997. Tourism Destination Management: Issues Analysis and Policies.
28. Li, W. (2006), Community Decision-Making Participation in Development: Peking University, China [online] Retrieved on September 21, 2007 from www.sciencedirect.com.
29. M. S. Amerta, “Sustainable tourism development,” International Research Journal of Management, IT and Social Sciences, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 248–254, 2018. [Online]. Available: 10.21744/irjmis.v5i2.674;https://dx.doi.org/10.21744/irjmis.v5i2.674
30. Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning [MINECOFIN], 2007 P.30.
31. Muganda, M., Sirima, A., & Ezra, P. M. (2013). The role of local communities in tourism development: Grassroots perspectives from Tanzania. J Hum Ecol, 41(1), 53-66.
32. N. Rizkianto and T. Topowijono, “Penerapan konsep community based tourism dalam Pengelolaan daya tarik wisata berkelanjutan (Studi pada Desa Wisata Bangun, Kecamatan Munjungan, Kabupaten Trenggalek),” Jurnal Administrasi Bisnis, vol. 58, no. 1, pp. 20–26, 2018.
33. Oh, C. & Hammitt, W. (2010). Determining economic benefits of park trails: management implications. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 28, (2), 94-107.
34. Okazaki, E. (2008). A community-based tourism model: its conception and use. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 26 (5), 511 – 529.
35. Our Common Future: World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, 1987) p27
36. P. Hall 1996, Hospitality; Travel and Tourism 4th edition
37. Palmer, C. and Lester, J.A., (2005), Photographic Tourism: Shooting the innocuous making meaning of tourism photographic behavior Niche Tourism Contemporary issues, trends and cases. Oxford, Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.
38. R. Musaddad, S. Pratama, and Wahyuni, “Pembangunan Pariwisata Berkelanjutan di Indonesia,” Dinamika Administrasi: Jurnal Ilmu Administrasi dan Manajemen, pp. 73– 93, 2019.
39. Report by SNV-Rwanda. 2009a, 2009b.
40. Report by SNV-Rwanda. 2009a, 2009b.
41. Report of the Rwandan Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM) 2009 P30
42. Roberta, M. and Lee, J. (2003), Cultural rural tourism Evidence from Canada: Annals of Tourism Research, 30(2), 307-322.
43. Sandbrook, 2009. Community Management of Natural Resources in Africa
44. Sebele, L.S. (2010). Community-based tourism ventures, benefits and challenges: Khama Rhino Sanctuary Trust, Central District, Botswana. Tourism management, 31(3),136-146.
45. Simpson, M.C. (2008). Community benefit tourism initiatives: a conceptual oxymoron. Journal of Tourism Management, 29(6), 1-18.
46. Spenceley, A. (2008). Responsible tourism: critical issues for conservation and development. London: Earthscan. 330 p.
47. Stoinski et al., 2007 Primates and Cetaceans Field Research of Complex Mammalian Societies. https://books.google.rw/books?id
48. Taylor, G. (1995) ‘The community approach: does it really work?’ Tourism Management, 17, 487–9.
49. Tosun, C. (2006). Expected nature of community participation in tourism development. Tourism Management, 27(3), 493-504.
50. UN Commission report on Sustainable Development [CSD], 1999.
51. UNDP report 2003.
52. United Nations (2011) World Population to reach 10 billion by 2100 if Fertility in all Countries Converges to Replacement Level, United Nations Press Release Embargoed until 3 May 2011, NEW YORK TIME, Available at: http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Other-Information/Press_Release_WPP2010.pdf (accessed 7 May 2011)
53. United Nations. World Tourism Organization. (2004). Tourism and poverty alleviation: background. http://step.unwto.org/en/content/background-and-objectives. Date of access: 12 May 2013.
54. Urry, J. (1995) Consuming Places. London: Routledge.
55. Viljoen, J. & Tlabela, K. (2007). Rural tourism development in South Africa: trends and challenges. Cape Town: Human Sciences Research Council. 3 p
56. World Wildlife Organization (WWF) (2001) Guidelines for community-based ecotourism development, WWF International (Switzerland)
57. WTO. (2007), Tourism an Economic and Social Phenomenon [online] (http://www.world-tourism. org/aboutwto/why/en/why.php?op-1)
58. Zahra, A. & McGhee, N.G. (2013). Volunteer tourism: a host community capital perspective. Annals of Tourism Research, 42(12), 22-45.
Published
2023-04-03
How to Cite
Habimana, A., Saaverdra , D. R., & Sinining , V. (2023). The Role of Communities in Developing Sustainable Tourism in Rwanda. Central Asian Journal of Innovations on Tourism Management and Finance, 4(3), 91-108. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/VDBKE
Section
Articles
In submitting the manuscript to the Central Asian Journal of Innovations on Tourism Management and Finance, the authors certify that:
- They are authorized by their co-authors to enter into these arrangements.
- The work described has not been formally published before, except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, thesis, or overlay journal.
- That it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere,
- The publication has been approved by the author(s) and by responsible authorities – tacitly or explicitly – of the institutes where the work has been carried out.
- They secure the right to reproduce any material that has already been published or copyrighted elsewhere.
- They agree to the following license and copyright agreement.
License and Copyright Agreement
Authors who publish with Central Asian Journal of Innovations on Tourism Management and Finance agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the Central Asian Journal of Innovations on Tourism Management and Finance right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors can enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the Central Asian Journal of Innovations on Tourism Management and Finance published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or edit it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) before and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
