Rwanda’s community tourism model has been applauded at the just-concluded World Tourism Day festivities in Mumbai, India.

The model involves communities around tourist sites participating in activities like cultural dances, drama, folklore or teaching tourists how to prepare local dishes, and traditional medicine.

This was after Clarence Fernandes, the Rwanda Development Board representative in Mumbai, presented a paper on how tourism is contributing to community development in Rwanda at the event yesterday. He explained that five per cent of the proceeds from tourist attractions the government gives to surrounding communities is in terms of services like schools, health centres and roads.

He also cited a case of how a young Rwandan woman left a lucrative career in the US and returned to her hometown to help the community market their handicrafts in international markets, which has enabled many of the residents to kick out poverty.

Rwanda has helped organise former poachers and their families in co-operatives that engage in community and cultural tourism, especially in areas surrounding the national park in the western and southern provinces. This has assured them of sustainable sources of income, and also attracts cultural tourism enthusiasts.

Delegates from Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, Belgium, Reunion Islands, Oman, Thailand and Vietnam attended the event.

Elsie Gabriel, founder of Young Environmentalists Programme Trust, part of the event organisers, highlighted the need to develop the communities, who are affected directly or indirectly by tourism activities and how the various stakeholders can contribute to such development.