Local economic

development
through gorilla
tourism
Developing and testing new ‘pro-poor’ tourism products
and services around Bwindi forest in Uganda
In brief
This 3-year project funded by the Darwin Initiative will work
with local people and established tour operators to develop and
test new ‘pro-poor’ tourism products and services around Bwindi
Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. The new initiatives — such
as guided tours, food experiences, cultural performances and
improved handicrafts — will aim to add value to the typical 2-night
gorilla tracking package and increase local revenue from tourism,
thereby contributing to poverty alleviation, improving local
peoples’ attitudes to conservation and reducing threats to gorillas.

Why now?
Tourism in Uganda is critical for generating suffer most, and there are few conservation
revenue for conservation of Mountain Gorillas or tourism based jobs open to local people.
and other species and habitats. At Bwindi Benefits from tourism are also limited as
Impenetrable National Park, tourist numbers a result of poor quality handicrafts and
have increased from 1300 per annum in 1993 presentation of community-based enterprises
to around 20,000 today. International tourists (which deter tourists), and low levels of skills
pay US$600 per head to track gorillas. Local development to improve job prospects or
people living around the forest receive US$10 enterprise opportunities.
per gorilla permit sold plus 20 per cent of the
The result is that relationships between local
US$40 park entry fees in recognition of the
people and the park authorities are poor, and
importance of their support for conservation.
poaching, snaring and other forms of illegal
However, our research has shown that local resource use continue. This represents a
people have a negative attitude towards the significant threat to the park and to the long
park and towards conservation. This is driven by term conservation of the gorillas, and a missed
the fact that they suffer significant costs such opportunity for harnessing tourism as an engine
as crop raiding by wild animals, but the revenue for local economic development.
from the park is not targeted at those who
Project partners
IIED partnered with the Wildlife Friendly Enterprise
The International Institute for Environment Network to initiate a ‘Gorilla Friendly’ ecolabel
and Development (IIED) is an international and certification scheme for the major actors in
policy research institute working for a more mountain gorilla tourism. www.igcp.org
sustainable world. IIED works globally through Tourism specialists
a wide range of partners, which enable IIED to
Explore Worldwide is a UK-based tour
link local development priorities to national and
operator which specialises in small group
international policy making. www.iied.org
adventure holidays including to Bwindi forest.
RTP Great Lakes Safaris is a tour operator that
The Responsible Tourism Partnership owns a small network of lodges in Uganda and
(RTP) works to support the development of is the preferred ground handler for Explore.
more responsible forms of tourism, using a
partnership approach to develop mutually Kwetu Africa Art and Development Centre
beneficial relationships between tourists and in Kampala was founded by Sanaa Gateja. He
tourism businesses in originating markets, trains mainly rural communities in skills, using
and communities, governments and tourism art to fight poverty.
businesses in destinations. RTP Wild Places has four lodges in Uganda,
www.responsibletourismpartnership.org also including one of the highest regarded lodges
maintains the website www.propoortourism.info in the country near the project’s target
communities. It also owns and operates the
ITFC
Uganda Safari Company.
The Institute for Tropical Forest Conservation
(ITFC) is a Ugandan research institution Responsible Travel is an online travel agent
located in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, that promotes holidays and initiatives that
with over 20 years of experience in research meet their criteria for responsible tourism and
and monitoring for tropical forest conservation partners with NGOs and academic institutes to
and with increasing expertise in socio- lobby for increased social and environmental
economic studies. The institute is affiliated to responsibility within the travel industries.
Mbarara University of Science and Technology.
Roles
www.itfc.must.ac.ug
IIED will coordinate the project and work with
IGCP RTP to design the fieldwork, which will be
The International Gorilla Conservation undertaken by ITFC. RTP will lead the design
Programme (IGCP) is a regional coalition of tourism services coordinating with tour
programme of Fauna & Flora International and operators. IGCP will lead the integration of
WWF with a mission to conserve the critically- certificates for those receiving training, as
endangered Mountain Gorillas and their habitat part of testing and further development of the
through partnering with key stakeholders ‘Gorilla Friendly’ ecolabel. Responsible Travel
while significantly contributing to sustainable will lead international marketing.
livelihood development. Since 2012 IGCP has
Our plans
Local economic development through ‘pro-poor’ gorilla tourism in Uganda (Apr 2016 to Mar 2019)

1: Scope demand
Consult with tour operators and survey tourists to clarify demand for local tourism
products and services including their type, price, quantity and quality.

2: Assess supply
Survey households in the tourist zones to identify current benefits from tourism, current
attitudes to conservation, and capacity to engage.

3: Match supply and demand

Share results with tour operators, agree the most viable products/services, and identify
quality criteria and sources of product/service development training.

4: Build capacity to meet demand

Work with existing guides, performers and handicraft makers to deliver training. We will
also adapt the emerging ‘Gorilla Friendly’ enterprise standards and test them on project
products and services.

5: Test, refine and rollout

Tour operator partners will include the new products/services in the Bwindi packages that
they offer to tourists and collect feedback, starting in one tourist zone and rolling out to
others. We will share lessons learnt with other tour operators in Uganda and internationally.
Outputs and outcomes
The project will bring improved and new hence reduce threats to the forest. Project
livelihood benefits from tourism to poor beneficiaries will extend beyond the households
households around Bwindi forest. Local women as successful approaches are replicated by
and men, especially those who are currently others and become integrated into standard
marginalised from tourism benefits, will acquire tourism packages. The way tour operators and
the necessary skills to offer quality tourism national tourism and wildlife authorities view
services and products to international tourists local communities will change, as they are seen
and to manage basic enterprises. They will as a source of new, quality, tourism experiences
also benefit from working relations with tour that improve the packages they market to
operators, which will set the foundation for their clients. Local people will become active
sustaining the initiative in the long term. partners in conservation and key to the long
term survival of the Mountain Gorilla.
In the medium and long term, the project will
improve local attitudes to conservation and
Get involved
If you would like to find out more about the
project or if you are a tour operator and
interested in becoming involved, in the first
instance please contact the Project Leader
Dilys Roe: dilys.roe@iied.org Project
Materials

Biodiversity; Poverty
Website Keywords:
Project outputs will be made available online as Responsible tourism; conservation;
livelihoods; capacity building;
the project progresses. gorillas; Uganda
www.iied.org/pro-poor-tourism-uganda

Get in touch
IIED Dilys Roe, Project Leader
dilys.roe@iied.org
RTP Harold Goodwin, Pro-poor tourism specialist
harold@haroldgoodwin.info
Peter Nizette, Pro-poor tourism specialist
peternizette@gmail.com
ITFC Medard Twinamatsiko, Senior Researcher
twinamatsiko@itfc.org
IGCP Salvatrice Musabyeyezu, ‘Gorilla Friendly’
standard training and testing
smusabyeyezu@igcp.org

Funding
This project is funded by the UK
government’s Darwin Initiative, which Photo credits:
assists countries that are rich in biodiversity Cover: Photo of part of
but poor in financial resources to implement ‘Uganda Maps No. 5’
their commitments under the international (www.east-africa-maps.com)
biodiversity conventions. However, views
expressed do not necessarily reflect the Page 2: Community members
views of the UK government. Bwindi edge (D Roe 2015)
Page 4: UWA ranger,
Bwindi edge (L King 2015)
Page 5: Mountain Gorilla
(M Mahboobeh 2013)