Local communities’ effort is an integral part of environment conservation and local economic development. These local communities need to be empowered with skills and other capacities to be able to do this important work. This is why, RFCT has looked at tourism beyond receiving and taking visitors around Uganda, to supporting local communities with skills and capacity building that enable them to initiate and develop sound community-based tourism enterprises that offer a credible experience to the visitors who choose Uganda as their holiday destination.
Rainforest and Community Tours is providing CBTEs development support through the creation and management of marketing and promotion, advisory, coaching, networking, and knowledge exchange avenues such as;
- A website space to post the ready to-sale community-based tourism products across the country
- A tourism enterprise clinic to provide support on demand by the Community Based Tourism Enterprises (CBTEs)
- A tourism initiatives register to profile CBTEs for easy monitoring, follow-up, and support
- CBTE enterprise training and coaching program
It is known that the multiplier effect of tourism income is very high. Community involvement further helps the tourist cash to stay longer in the economy as it is spent locally on basic needs. With a high rate of unemployment in Uganda’s youngest population that is dominated by youth and women, community-based employment opportunities are set to be a perfect solution. There is no way we will rule out the involvement of communities especially the women and youth in tourism if Uganda is to offer a competitive tourism destination in the region.
When communities are empowered to be involved in tourism they help to diversify the attractions of Uganda. When the visitor numbers and spending increased the communities will be able to sustainably earn their living hence less pressure will be impacted on the local environment for subsistence survival. On the other hand, unskilled communality’s involvement in tourism service delivery can be detrimental to the destination image and reputation in the market.
