Declining Tourism in DRC
REASONS WHY TOURISM IS NOT DOING WELL IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC)
Democratic Republic of Congo is the second largest country in Africa after Algeria. It is situated in west Africa with lots of tourist attractions like Mountain Nyiragongo, Mountain Nyamuragira, Mountain Mikeno, Virunga National Park hosting Mountain Gorillas, Garamba Forest national park with lots of Elephants, Rhinos, virgin forest among others. Other Attractions include Kinsasha city, Goma city, Kisangani city, Lake Kivu among others.
Unfortunately, the DR. Congo tourism industry is not performing well because of seasonal political instabilities. The seasonal attacks threaten tourists to visit this country for fear of losing their lives. It is believed that DR. Congo is one of the wealthiest countries in Africa with lots of mineral and natural resources which trigger rebel attacks with the aim of exploration mineral resource hence political un-rests.
Bad roads, some roads in DR. Congo are in worse situation to take tourist to the destinations of their interest. Some tourist attractions are completely inaccessible due to lack of roads connecting.
Poor Marketing – the country is large with lots of tourist attraction but low effort has been put on marketing of the available potential. Therefore, the some travelers are not aware of the available amazing tourist attractions in Democratic Republic of Congo.
The eruption of mountains in DR. Congo also threatens tourists to go there! Mountain Nyiragongo last erupted in 2002 destroying 50% of Goma city and many people lost lives, properties among others. It is believed that the mountain exhibits more signs of eruption in future. Mountain Nyamuragira releases smoke in day and nights while Mountain Nyiragongo releases fume of fire which is clearly seen at night. Local people in DR. Congo believes that the mountains do “cook”
Poor accommodation, some people have no accommodation while others are in poor condition which doesn’t attract tourist to go there.
Some tour operators in DR. Congo are not professional and are incompetent to organize the safaris to the world standards.
Some of the amazing wild animals like Gorillas, elephants, Rhinos and so on are disappearing due to poaching in Democratic Republic of Congo.
Poachers are liabilities to DR. Congo because rangers and some tour operators are killed when trying to defend wild animals from poachers. In most cases, poachers invade the parks when armed and ready to attack anybody hindering them from killing wild animals.
Democratic Republic of Congo has no national jet at the moment which hinders direct flights from Europe, Australia and so on. Therefore, tourists find it difficult to access DR. Congo directly- some few tourists who visit DR. Congo use Airports of nearby countries like Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundu among others.
Unlike other neighboring countries, DR. Congo has few powerful safari vehicles to transport tourist from one place to another. Some National parks need 4 wheel drive safari vehicles to be accessible due to bad roads.
There is stiff competition with Rwanda and Uganda which have similar tourist attractions like Gorillas, chimpanzees, Rhinos and elephants among others.
