Tourism and Economic Development

Abstract

Tourism is a diverse and labor-intensive industry that can provides a wide range of employment opportunities.It is also well placed to contribute to poverty reduction: because it is consumed at the point of intervention, even rural community areas can be service exporters in the sector.The government of Rwanda through prioritization of sectors for its strategy of development chose the tourism industry, for it is a sector that has been continuously increasing proving to be profitable for the economy.However; converting Rwanda's tourism comparative advantages into competitiveness and sustainability require not only coherent policies and a dynamic supply side but also efficient institutions to translate policy measures into Programs.This wider perspective is essential if tourism industry is developed in a way to positively affect poverty reduction especially in rural areas by promoting community based tourism.Many policies have been put in place to promote this sector, and recently one of them was to join the EAC single visa.Though Rwanda tourism attractions still undiversified the sector has been performing well, but competing with countries possessing more diversified tourism products like Tanzania and Uganda, big in terms of economic geographic size will imply a more strategic marketing model to position Rwanda as unique destination.This study provides a comparative study between three EAC countries Tanzania and Uganda, and in the end this study presents recommendations to consider at policy, institutional, and supply side level, for Rwanda to continue attracting more tourists and build a global image destination for tourism development.