A Post-Pandemic, Nature-Based Tourism and Conservation : Recovery Plan for Rwanda
The Rwandan economy has grown well above average compared to its peers and the world over for the past two decades achieving growth rates of more than 8% regularly with 2019 being 12.5 percent. While these growth rates have been achieved from a ver...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/099235212132111613/P169151075ac730550b8df06b7466dc48b6 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36756 |
| Summary: | The Rwandan economy has grown well
above average compared to its peers and the world over for
the past two decades achieving growth rates of more than 8%
regularly with 2019 being 12.5 percent. While these growth
rates have been achieved from a very low base, it has been
the catalyst for a quadruple increase in the GDP/capita from
$268 in 2000 to $837 in 2019. The prevailing Covid-19
pandemic, however, is undoing much of the hard-fought gains
made in development over the past two decades. As a case in
point, the GDP/capita declined to $816 in 2020, a decline in
absolute terms of $21/capita, the largest decline since
1999. Additionally, thetourism sector saw a decline in the
number of visitors to the National Parks of 67% to levels
last seen in the early part of this millennium (RDB 2020).
This decline coincides with loses in income and jobs. In
additional there has been the complete collapse of the
highly praised and well-functioning revenue sharing model
whereby local communities benefitted from the proceeds the
NationalParks were generating. The decline in park revenue
also resulted in the conservation sector’s decreased ability
to manage and maintain the National Parks. This has had a
debilitating impact on the livelihoods of people living
adjacent and near the conservation areas as well as all the
people employed as well as enterprises within the tourism
and conservation sector and value chain. |
|---|