Abstract
ABSTRACTRwanda's Nyungwe National Park is a biodiversity hotspot with the most endemic species in the ecoregion and the highest number of threatened species internationally. Nyungwe supplies critical ecosystem services to the Rwandan population including water provisioning and tourism services. Tourism in the Park has strong potential for financing enhanced visitor experiences and the sustainable management of the Park. This paper explores quantitatively the economic impacts of adjustment in Park visitation fees and tourism demand as a source of revenues to improve Park tourism opportunities and ongoing operations and maintenance. The methods developed in this paper are novel in integrating the results of stated preference techniques with a regional computable general equilibrium modelling approach to capture multisectoral, direct, indirect and induced impacts. Such methods have strong potential for assessing revenue generation alternatives in other contexts where park managers are faced with the need to generate additional revenue for sustainable park management while facing diminishing budget allocations. Results of this analysis demonstrate that adjustment of Park fees has a relatively small impact on the regional economy and well-being when compared with a strategy aimed at generating increased tourism demand through investment in improving the visitor experience at Nyungwe National Park.
Highlights
Introduction Nyungwe NationalPark forms part of the largest remnant of intact lower montane forest in Africa and is an important conservation area within the Albertine Rift Valley biodiversity hotspot
We develop a regional computable general equilibrium model (RCGE) of Rwanda’s South and West Provinces to evaluate the potential economic impacts from adjusting the current Park fee structure and from increased tourism demand for Nyungwe arising from an enhanced tourism experience
In the absence of better projections, it is assumed that the economy of Rwanda’s South and West Provinces is on a balanced growth path, which means that real or volume variables, including tourism demand, grow at the same rate while relative prices do not change
Summary
Park forms part of the largest remnant of intact lower montane forest in Africa and is an important conservation area within the Albertine Rift Valley biodiversity hotspot. It is part of an eco-regional natural forest ecosystem known for the most diverse endemic vertebrae in the African continent, the most endemic species in the ecoregion, and the second highest number of threatened species internationally (Plumptre et al, 2007, Fischer and Killmann, 2008). Nyungwe National Park is home to over 300 bird species, including 16 endemics, and 75 different species of mammals.
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