The Covid 19 pandemic did not spare any living creature and more especially the tourism sector. Rwanda’s primate tourism was its major contributor to the economy but was greatly hit since the borders were closed for any travelers from other countries. After a few months of total lockdown, Rwanda decided to resume its tourism activities in a controlled manner following the guidelines from the World Health organization. Rwanda decided to cut down the cost of its Gorilla permits to encourage the travelers and to revive the primate tourism.
Gorilla trekking permits to Volcanoes National park were reduced to $500 per permit for nonresidents while Rwandan citizens and foreign residents will be required to pay only $200 per person to visit the mountain Gorillas. This was reduced from the original cost of the permit that was at $1500 for all that wanted to engage in tracking the gorillas at Volcanoes National Park. The decision to reduce permit cost was reached at in a meeting that was chaired by the president Paul Kagame after a period of 3 months of lockdown. The tourism activities then resumed with restrictions on the Covid 19 pandemic as guided by the relevant authorities. Hotels were allowed to operate to ease the domestic tourism that was being encouraged at that time.
In a bid to encourage more tourists both domestic and internationally, Rwanda Development Board also introduced a discount a 15 to 30% offer to all the groups visit Nyungwe and Volcanoes National Park.
Domestic tourists were encouraged to present Covid 19 results taken 48 hours before they are allowed to visit the parks while the rest were supposed to present Covid 19 results taken 72 hours before coming to Rwanda.
The primates are prone to human diseases, visitors are therefore advised to maintain a distance of 10meters from each other and the wild animals during their visit to the parks.
Rwanda’s national carrier Rwanda Air had most of its operations grounded leading to great losses after the suspension of commercial flights. The country however has a plan to inject money in it to enable its recovery.
Boosting domestic tourism was and is still seen as the best strategy if tourism has to recover in Rwanda and other countries that depend on tourism. All the National parks in Rwanda are now open for tourism and can be visited following the set guidelines by the relevant authorities.
