Total Economic Impact of Tourism on Rwanda s Economy and Its Linkages with Other Sectors of the Economy

Abstract

Measurement of tourism economic impacts is important in monitoring progress towards meeting planned socioeconomic goals. However, there has been insufficient attention to rigorous analysis of ramifications of tourism beyond accounting for initial impacts. Labour income, output and value added multipliers indicate that tourism has strong linkages with service sectors while employment multiplier indicates robust linkages with agriculture. The current study aimed to evaluate the economic impacts of tourism on Rwanda's economy. Results indicate that internal tourism demand created 29% of all jobs, generated 9.7% of labour incomes, 11.1% of total value addition and 12% of national output in 2014. Therefore, increasing internal tourism demand in Rwanda will lead to higher labour income, increased output and value addition and higher employment in agriculture and other associated sectors. This study shed lights on predominantly informal sector of Rwanda's economy especially with respect to the domestic tourism market.