This is a best prospect industry sector for this country. Includes a market overview and trade data.

Overview

The Republic of Congo boasts some of the last true pristine wilderness areas on the planet.  The lush Congo Basin rainforest supports charismatic fauna such as forest elephants and lowland gorillas in quantities not found anywhere else in the world.  Remoteness, infrastructure and transportation difficulties, cost, and corruption have thwarted significant inroads in the tourism sector.  However, as the country continues to develop, the cost-benefit equation is likely to turn and ecotourism will likely become increasingly viable. 

The upscale lodges at Odzala National Park provide a glimpse of what is possible at the high end of the tourism market.  The American NGO Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is also prototyping tourism – on a potentially more affordable scale - in a few of the national parks (Nouabalé-Ndoki and Conkouati) and could be a source of guidance to serious, competent investors hoping to develop tourism in the region. The Republic of Congo government as well as WCS is committed to welcoming tourism as a way to provide sustainable employment for people living near the national park areas.
 
 2014201520162017 (Estimated)
Total Local Production    
Total Exports    
Total Imports440,000341,000330,000316,000
Imports from the US
 		    
Total Market Size    
Exchange Rates493.53591.42592.44 
Unit: Number of tourists.
Total market size = (total local production + imports) - exports
Source: Ministry of Tourism
 

Leading Sub-Sectors

Transportation and guide services to access existing park resources.
 

Opportunities

Lodging and guide services near national parks are likely to receive strong support from the Congolese government.
 

Web Resources

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Congo
Odzala Wilderness Camps
USAID Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE):  U.S. Government program working through partners such as WCS to promote sustainable livelihoods (such as tourism) to protect environmental resources:  USAID- CARPE  and CARPE.

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