Rwanda has extended promotional rates for gorilla trekking fees to ensure continued domestic and foreign tourism recovery.

Initiated in 2020 following the ease of travel restrictions due to Covid-19, Rwanda Development Board (RDB) announced that the rates will be extended to December 31.

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Gorilla permits are as little as $200 for Rwandans and nationals of East African Community (EAC), $500 for foreigners who are residents in Rwanda, and $500 for Africans and African foreign residents.

International tourists will continue to pay $1,500.

"Tourists should purchase the visiting permits one month in advance before the trekking date. If the promotional permit is bought in less than one month to the trekking date, it will be priced at $1,500,” RDB stated.

To ease the booking and rescheduling process of trekking permits that were not used strictly due to travel restrictions resulting from the pandemic, the postponement of dates will be free of charge for a period not later than June 30, it added.

By November 2022, sales of gorilla trekking permits in Volcanoes National Park generated $19.7 million and an overall $425.5 million in tourism revenue from more than 1.06 million leisure and business travelers, according to RDB.

This is an increase from $164 million generated in 2021, and $131 million in 2020. The country welcomed more than 512,000 international visitors in 2021.

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The government introduced a tourism revenue sharing program in bid to improve the livelihoods of communities around national parks, and the institution said that 10 percent of total revenue given back to the community has seen over Rwf7.9 billion distributed to more than 880 community based projects by 2022.

With the increasing population of the endangered mountain gorillas, the government of Rwanda in collaboration with the African Wildlife Foundation seeks to expand Volcanoes National Park, a project that is expected to cost $255 million (approx. Rwf260 billion).

The initiative will expand the park by approximately 23 percent, increasing its size by 37.4 square kilometers (or 3,740 hectares) to enhance the effective habitat functioning of the park.