Exploring Ecosystem Protection Role in Advancing Ecotourism; Case of Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda

Ecotourism is a form of tourism that aims at decreasing its effect on the environment, is ecologically found, and avoids the negative impacts of many large-scale tourism developments undertaken in places that have not earlier been developed (Rahman et al., 2022). According to (Baloch et al., 2023), ecotourism was developed in the period of environmental movement in the 1970s and 1980s in the western society in Europe. The development of environmental concern went with an emerging dissatisfaction with mass tourism and led to increased demand for nature-based experiences of an alternative nature. In the same period, undeveloped countries including Asian and African countries started realizing that nature-based tourism provides a way of getting foreign exchange and gives a less damaging use of wealth than substitutes like accommodation and farming. In the 1980s, many of those countries such as Costa Rica had recognized ecotourism development as a good strategy to attain both conservation and development goals (Gu et al., 2023).

Based on its great importance in both ecosystem conservation and tourism growth, governments of many countries have undertaken strong strategies to build sustainable ecotourism development. In India for example, the country benefits from having several various wildlife species, including elephants, rhinoceroses, and tigers, and also many well-managed protected areas whereby, the possible ecotourism benefits are enormous (Zeng et al., 2023).

According to Yoon and Lee (2023), the benefits of ecotourism growth have indeed been recognized where it is considered as a good business providing direct and indirect incomes not only to the governments but also to residents. In India for example, the local people living in the surrounding areas of the Periyar tiger reserve in Kerala, earn lots of benefits from ecotourism activities performed there. Furthermore, well-organized and performed activities have resulted in the increase of revenues for the park management. The residents actively participate in tourism-based activities through various ecotourism development projects.

In South Africa, ecotourism has contributed to sustainability and improvement of the country’srich biodiversity and economic growth. In that country, tourism is the fourth largest source of foreign exchange earnings and ecotourism plays more significant roles by encouraging visitors while promoting and supporting the country’secosystem. As South Africa has several natural ecosystem habitats including water bodies, forests, and parks, ecotourism is a way for this country to earn more from various ecotourism activities performed by both domestic and international visitors (Ochieng et al., 2023).

Muriithi (2023), indicated that in Kenya, ecotourism has weakly developed from an intangible idea to a more niche-driven market that pulls both loyal and new visitors. While some tourism destination sites mix traditional tourism with ecotourism activities, there are so many destinations that promote themselves as exclusive eco-tourism sites. According to Yang et al., (2023), not only is the huge support for ecotourism in Kenya given by the government and people, but also by companies dedicated to conserving Kenya’snatural resources and enabling local communities. For example, Basecamp Foundation is a non-profit organization working with local communities and partner organizations to establish and implement sustainable ecotourism destination sites in Kenya and other developing countries, accentuating the positive efforts of tourism on the natural, social, and economic environment.

In the case of Rwanda, ecotourism contributes more to environmental protection and ecosystem conservation, and too much effort has been used by the Rwandan Government together with other different ecotourism stakeholders such as Karisoke Research Centre for the development of this new form of tourism (Jones et al., 2023). With plastic bag bans, intensive animal conservation including resurgence of the endangered mountain gorilla population and the reintroduction of both lions and rhinos to complete the big five animal species in Akagera National Park, restoration and establishment of Gishwati-Mukura Natural forests as the fourth national park, and the increase of eco-lodges, Rwanda is changing the face of ecotourism in a great way (Sabuhoro et al., 2023).

In addition, the Rwandan Government is highly promoting ecotourism whereby, environmentally friendly and luxury lodges including the unparalleled Bisate Lodge and Ruzizi Tented Lodge were built. For the budgetary tourists and travelers, new accommodation sites such as the Kitabi EcoCenter in Nyungwe National Park and Cyuza’s Island on Lake Burera motivate visitors to live as sustainably as possible, promoting solar energy, local food options, and composting latrines (Gubić et al., 2023).

Through various eco-tourism projects around the Volcanoes National Park, local communities understand better the value of gorilla tourism, and they directly benefit from its revenues whereby, via RDB’stourism revenue sharing program, health centers, schools, electricity, water supply, and other tourism infrastructure were built and developed in the surrounding areas of the Volcanoes National Park (Mbale et al., 2023). Thus, despite the availability of more studies conducted by different researchers such as (Fennell, et al., 2023), on ecotourism and ecosystems, there was still a need to research how ecosystem protection contributes to the development of ecotourism in Rwanda.