Company Profile

Rwanda Eco-Tours was founded and is run by native Rwandans who are passionate about providing the highest quality tourism experiences that also responsibly contribute to the conservation of Rwanda's beautiful natural resources - her parks, lands and indigenous animals, most notably the endangered mountain gorillas - as well as the development of Rwanda's tourism economy. In order to create an unforgettable experience, Rwanda Eco-Tours is staffed by people who have not only been trained in the most prestigious international universities for conservation and eco-tourism, but also have real-world experience with the culture, animals and people you will encounter. Through our years of work in the field, we are uniquely positioned to give you the chance to experience Rwanda's magic in an unforgettable way.

At rwanda Eco-Tours we recognize that there is a dependent relationship between the renewal of our most precious resources - the mountain gorillas and golden monkeys - and the ability of Rwanda's local people to see a direct benefit from tourism. Our goal is to link tourism and conservation with an economic rationale that will act as an incentive for local communities around national parks, who suffer the cost of park existence, to not just tolerate, but proactively protect the park. To this end we donate 20% of our profits to special programs within the local communities surrounding the parks.

Presently, the tourism industry is growing steadily in Rwanda, given the peace and stability of the region coupled with unique attractions, such as the mountain gorillas. In the decade following the genocide, statistics show that Rwanda tourism is on the rebound, with annual tourist numbers to Rwanda's national parks increasing from 1,663 in 1995 to 24,120 in 2005. However, as tourism continues to grow in East Africa, Rwanda needs to ensure that tourism is responsibly developed.

To prepare for this challenge, there is a need to improve the quality of tourism products and services. At Rwanda Eco-Tours, we subscribe to the philosophy that tourism service providers need not just meet tourist's expectations; they must exceed them by delivering knowledgeable guidance and an unparalleled experience in a professional and friendly manner. Secondly, we strive to ensure that tourism in Rwanda is developed and promoted based on the best principles and practices of ecotourism -- to ensure it is educational to visitors, contributes to the conservation of environment, and economically empowers local communities living near tourism attractions.

To this end, Rwanda Eco-Tours is founded on the following objectives.

Agency Objectives

1. Enabling Local communities to directly benefit from conservation and tourism

Rwanda Eco-Tours Agency ensures local people, particularly those neighboring protected areas and tourism attractions, benefit more directly from tourism. By contributing 20% of our profits to local communities, we support them both technically and financially in developing small-scale, tourism enterprises as a link to sustainable conservation. We envision strengthening this support by encouraging our tourists to visit these projects and see for themselves how their travel is contributing towards improving the livelihoods of local people as well as the attractions they visit. This will not only open tourism markets to local enterprises, but also encourage visitor and community interactions.

Most of Rwanda's tourism businesses are owned by foreign companies and individuals, which encourages tourism revenue leakage out of Rwanda. Locally owned and operated, Rwanda Eco-Tours intends to raise awareness about this little known phenomenon, encouraging visitors to reach out for tourism services offered by locally owned businesses. Rwanda Eco-tours Agency also continues to support local companies to improve standards and the quality services provided to visitors.

2. Providing educational and distinctive services to eco-visitors

Improving tourism standards and quality requires investment in both tourism product development and promotion, as well as how tourists are handled and managed once in the country. 90% of a tourist's time in Rwanda is spent with tour/safari guides, yet most guides are not professionally trained and do not have the required knowledge and experience in tourism and conservation. Given our background, experience and training, the Rwanda Eco-Tours Agency founders - who work as safari guides themselvs - help ensure visitor satisfaction by providing unique opportunities to learn and experience nature, the rich Rwandan culture and history of the Rwandan people. We can tailor each visit to suit your unique needs. And by providing greater awareness of environmental, social, and cultural issues, we encourage mutual respect between visitors and local communities.

3. Providing capacity building services for public and private tourism institutions

There are significant public and private institutions as well as individuals involved in Rwanda's tourism industry; however, there is limited knowledge and expertise in the field of tourism and limited resources available from which to obtain this expertise. While a few hotel management schools provide instruction at the primary and secondary school level, there are no higher institutions of learning to provide Rwandans with professional experience and training in Tourism. Given the education and training background of the Rwanda Eco-Tours Agency founders, capacity building programs will be developed and customized to address the various needs of different institutions and people. This will enable various institutions and individuals in the tourism sector to learn about tourism principles, the pros and cons of tourism and how to benefit more from it. Particularly, this will be focused on tour guides in other tour agencies to provide them with expertise in tourism, customer care and professional guiding principles to ensure tourist satisfaction while in Rwanda and maintain tourism standards.

4. Conducting tourism research, analysis and advocacy for policymaking

Tourism is a diverse and dynamic sector, shaped by issues and actions that require in-depth knowledge and up-to-date information. Currently, tourism policies and decisions in Rwanda are developed with stated objectives, but it is difficult to assess their impact on the overall functioning of tourism programs or the success of such policies. Rwanda Eco-Tours seeks to influence such tourism policies and decisions by providing policy and decision makers with up-to-date information on various tourism issues through research. For a full list of research conducted by Rwanda Eco-tours Agency, click here.

5. Providing consultancy services in the field of tourism and hospitality to Rwandan institutions and professionals in the tourism sector

Currently, the volume of Rwanda's tourism institutions and individuals are not matched with an equal level of tourism expertise to deal with tourism challenges as the industry grows and matures. Given the educational background and experience of the founders, Rwanda Eco-Tours Agency provides consultancy services tailored to the specific needs of various tourism institutions and professionals in Rwanda. Areas of our expertise include, but not limited to:

• Eco-tourism planning, development and management.
• Community-based tourism planning, development and management.
• Evaluation and monitoring of potential tourism impacts (both socio-cultural and environmental impacts).
• Strengthening tourism benefits to communities and the environment.
• Strategic planning for tourism projects.
• Identification and development of community based tourism enterprises.
• Feasibility studies for potential tourism sites.
• Sustainable tourism development.