Tourism Revenue Sharing and Community Participation in Tourism and Conservation around Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda.
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Date
2017-11
Authors
Nyaga, Njoka John
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
The study assessed Tourism Revenue Sharing (TRS) and its impact on community participation
in conservation and tourism around Volcanoes national park in Rwanda. Further the study
objectives were to analyze implementation of TRS and its impact on community participation in
conservation and tourism around Volcanoes National Parks (VNP). In addition, the Local
communities’ attitude towards tourism revenue sharing around VNP was assessed and how it
impacted on their participation in conservation and tourism, to identify the constraints to revenue
sharing around VNP. To achieve the above objectives the researcher used a descriptive research
design utilizing both quantitative and qualitative techniques. A sample of five Rwanda
Development Board (RDB) staff, eight local leaders and one hundred and seventy eight local
communities was used. Also the researcher used simple random sampling to select local
communities’ respondents and purposive sampling technique to select Rwanda Development
Board staff and Local leaders. The results indicate that TRS implementation is not clear to many
as there were contradictions in how the Officials of RDB say as compared to responses from the
locals. However there was a general appreciation from a majority of the respondents (70%) in the
TRS program. In spite of the dissatisfaction among majority of the respondents on the way TRS
was being implemented, the majority of the respondents (90%) stated that they would readily
participate in conservation and tourism activities if they were more involved in TRS process.
From these inferences the researcher concluded that the participation of local communities in
conservation and tourism activities was not influenced by the way TRS was being implemented
or by the benefits accrued from it. However TRS could act as an inducement to improve local
community participation. The findings however indicated that there was weak relationship
between TRS implementation and community participation in conservation and tourism around
Volcanoes national park (P<0.05) From the conclusions, the researcher thus recommended that
RDB to take a leading role in enhancing local residents representation in the TRS
implementation process as well as involving them in decision making process on projects to be
funded. Also consider rewarding those close to the parks with more direct benefits as well as
reducing the time taken to disburse the funds.
Key word: Tourism revenue sharing, local community, community participation, conservation,
tourism
Description
Thesis Submitted in Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Masters of Science in Hospitality and Tourism Management in the School of Hospitality and Tourism of Kenyatta University.