Gorilla Trekking Uganda Gorilla Safaris

As a need to promote Tourism in Rwanda, the use of online marketing and management tools can boost the tourism industry if timely investments are made. The biggest contribution would come from posting information and content on websites regarding Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) tourism.

Research carried out by On The Frontier (OTF) Group shows that internet is the major source of information on MICE tourism Rwanda with 52%.

Other sources of online MICE information on Rwanda are specialized websites (35%), Rwanda embassies (32%), travel agents (31%), travel magazines (29%) and official travel advisory (27%). There are an estimated 1.2billion internet users or more globally. Current forecasts suggest 1.5billion people will have internet access by 2012.

The fact that most MICE tourists consult the internet about their destination country, Rwanda is at the critical moment to heavily invest in infrastructure that will enable web access possible in order to build an online sustainable tourism.

This, however, requires infrastructural development, e-commerce, education and exposure to global practice, global relationships, innovation and vision.

Damian Cook, managing director of E-tourism Africa, an online tourism promoting website says online activity has become habitual and practical, including shopping. Cook says that for the past three years, travel is now the best selling commodity with over US$110 billion turnover in online sales.

He estimates that over 70% of travelers obtain their travel information through online tourism and it increases their means of selecting, booking and buying. He says Africa has accounted for 36million arrivals and US$24billion which is 4% of global tourism. However, an estimated less than 2% of Africa’s total consists of online sales.

Cook explains African content can be difficult to find and access because of lack of e-commerce and inventory. He says South Africa and Egypt which have invested in ICT and allowed e-commerce have started to do some business online.

Because of familiarity with the websites, users have started creating their own content without understanding computer programming. It is expected that users will have created 70% of the content on the web in three years.

However, as information continues to flow on online community, filtering good and bad information becomes more difficult. A practical example is Kenya which was just recovering from an image of terrorist attacks on the US embassy and just entered into post-election violence.

The same applies to Rwanda where her image is being painted dark by the war in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. With negative media spreading the world, it is hard to keep up the good image of a country which directly impacts its tourism sector.

Rwanda’s tourism industry has over the past 14 years been growing with increasing numbers of international tourists compared to locals. The industry is targeting US$148million receipts at the end of this year.

BY,

Deborah Allen,

Gorilla Trekking Safari News Reporter

Kampala Uganda

In a need to boost Tourism in Uganda, beginning January 2009, all nationals of the East African Community are to pay the same amount as their Ugandan counterparts to gain access to utilities and services of Uganda’s national parks and game reserves.

With effect from January 2009, Kenyans, Tanzanians, Rwandese and people from Burundi will pay UShs5, 000 for adults and UShs2,500 for the children or the equivalents of those sums of money to visit any wildlife gazetted areas in Uganda.

The money will, however, not cover other additional activities like mountaineering, gorilla trekking and chimpanzee habituation experiences amongst other services that may be provided by national parks.

In Uganda, wild life protected areas include Murchison Falls National Park, Lake Mburo National Park, Mgahinga National Park, Kidepo Valley National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park and Kibale National Park amongst others.

Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), the body charged with managing the country’s protected areas, undertakes a biennial review of the entry and tourism tariffs with the aim of determining whether the tariffs correspond to the market forces that are in line with those charged by neighboring countries.

Under the new tariff regime, the differences between Ugandans and the other East Africans has been removed and replaced by the category of East Africans under which Ugandans fall.

Children under the age of five years, students from Ugandan schools and honorary wardens will always receive free admissions to the protected areas. Students on educational trips must however carry valid identity cards and a letter from their schools.

In addition to harmonizing tourism in Uganda, the fees charged on East Africans, UWA has offered a 50% discount from the 15th of December 2008 to the 15th of January 2009.

The Executive Director of UWA, Moses Mapesa said they had decided to offer the discount at this time of the year because it falls under school holiday time.

“We have decided to offer this discount because this is when most people are on holiday. We would like it if Ugandans and the East Africans took this opportunity because entry into the national parks is going to be UShs2500 (below $2) for all those people who have residence in the East Africa region,” he said.

Mapesa also said UWA provides annual entry permits to all protected areas for foreign residents and East African residents. An annual permit costs $50 for an individual, $75 for a couple, $100 for a family of four people with children not exceeding 15 years of age and $400 for corporate organizations providing entry for 10 people.

Foreigners resident in Uganda will now pay $20 for adults and the children below 15 years of age will pay $10. The foreign non-residents will, however, pay $30 for adults and $15 for children below 15 years.

“The need to harmonize tourism tariffs in the East African region is what has compelled us to act in this way. We under took the measure after extensive consultations with other stakeholders in the region,” Mapesa said. It is still unclear whether the other East African countries are also going to charge uniform fees to their nationals and the nationals from the other East African states.

The UWA has also increased the tariffs for chimpanzee tracking in Kibale National Park from $70 to $90 for foreign non-residents and from $50 to $70 for foreign residents. Citizens of East African countries will pay UShs60,000.

A single day for the chimpanzee habituation experience which involves spending 12 hours watching the chimpanzees feed, play, care for their young and construct nests will cost foreign non-residents $220, foreign residents $150 while the citizens of East Africa will pay $70.

Foreign non-resident persons are the people who come into East Africa exclusively as tourists and do not have any sort of residences while the foreign residents are the people currently residing in East African as expatriates or otherwise.

Gorilla trekking fees have also increased: tracking permits in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park are now at $500 for the foreign non-residents, $475 for the foreign residents and UShs250,000 for East Africans. Ugandans too will pay Ushs250,000 up from the previous Ushs150,000.

In an attempt to attract more locals into the tourism sector, the UWA is encouraging people by reducing entrance fees this festive season, harmonizing tariffs for East Africans and expanding points of accommodation at most of the major tourist attractions.

“We have made extensions at Kyobe and Pakuba lodges, we have also receives requests to reconstruct Katurumu lodge at Kidepo Valley National Park and Kyambura in Queen Elizabeth is being expanded,” Mapesa said.

By,

Deborah Allen

Gorilla Trekking Safari

Kampala

Rwanda Office of Tourism and National Parks last week unveiled Nyungwe National Park, as Rwanda’s third and largest park. Nyungwe National Park was a game reserve from the 1930s until 2004 covering a total area of 1,019 square kilometers and the largest Afro-montane forest in East and Central Africa.

The park is home to 13 types of primates including chimpanzees and constitutes 20% of Africa’s primate species. It is also famous for having over 250 different bird species, 161 known orchids and a place where one can see a troop of 400 Columbus monkeys in one area.

The inauguration of the park comes to boost tourism which is the country’s number one foreign exchange earner. It is estimated that it will generate Rwf214million (US$396,296) this year and contribute close to 5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

By November this year, 987,280 visitors had visited Rwanda out of whom 4,060 had visited Nyungwe Park and of these, 3,780 were foreign visitors.

The tourism sector is targeting 15,000 tourists by 2012 and some measures such as improving signage in and around the park, construction of lodging facilities, introduction of a canopy walk and an interpretation centre have been put in place to meet the targets.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is sponsoring Destination Nyungwe, a three-year project worth $5.5 million that supports eco tourism development, bio-diversity conservation and public health.

The global environment facility, a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) project is also funding Protected Area Biodiversity to the tune of $5.4million for both Nyungwe and Virunga national parks.

The government is estimating to generate $168million of revenue from tourism by 2012. This will account for 5.6% of GDP and 4.5% employment for those involved in the sector.

By,

Deborah Allen

Gorilla Trekking Safari Uganda

Kampala