Diversifying Rwanda's tourism industry: a role for domestic tourism

Abstract

Domestic tourism is an undeveloped theme in African tourism scholarship since the planning and promotion of tourism in most African countries is biased towards international tourism. Rwanda's tourism industry, anchored on the attractions of gorilla tourism for international visitors, is now being rebuilt after civil strife and genocide, and diversifying to encompass the promotion of cultural tourism. This paper examines the role of domestic tourism in Rwanda's developing tourism economy and argues that positive benefits can be obtained through the greater promotion of domestic tourism in the country.

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Notes on contributors

Joan Mazimhaka

1Junior Consultant, OTF Group, Rwanda, and postgraduate student, School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The author wishes to thank Wendy Job for preparing the illustrations for this paper, Professor Chris Rogerson for editorial assistance, and two anonymous referees for their valuable input.