Who wants what?

Abstract

‘Local economic development through pro-poor gorilla tourism in Uganda’ is a three year project funded by the UK government's Darwin Initiative. The aim of the project is to work with local people and established tour operators to develop and test new ‘pro-poor’ tourism products and services around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. This report discusses the findings of the first two stages of the project; scoping the demand for ‘pro-poor’ tourism initiatives and assessing local capacity for supply. From a combination of tourist and tour operator surveys, as well as a scoping visit to the main tourism zones, the project team identified a range of existing initiatives with the potential to add value to the typical two night gorilla tracking package, increase community revenue from tourism and consequently improve local attitudes towards the park.