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, a bureaucratic and inefficient visa regime, infrastructure and transportation difficulties, cost, and corruption have thwarted significant inroads in the tourism sector. As the country continues to develop, ecotourism will likely become increasingly viable.
|
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 estimated |
Total Local Production |
10,120 |
11,383 |
n/a |
n/a |
Total Exports |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
Total Imports |
264,582 |
274,573 |
n/a |
n/a |
Imports from the US |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
Total Market Size |
274,702 |
285,956 |
n/a |
n/a |
Exchange Rates |
589 |
586 |
556 |
545 |
Unit: Number of visitors and tourists
Total market size = (total local production + imports) - exports
Data sources: Republic of Congo 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. The upscale lodges run by the Congo Conservation Company (CCC) in Odzala-Koukoua National Park provide a glimpse of what is possible at the high end of the tourism market.
The U.S. NGO Wildlife Conservation Society recently began a collaboration with CCC to expand its model to Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park.
In 2020, USAID’s Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) became active in the ecotourism sector as a tool to conserve the Congo River Basin environment. It works through partners to promote sustainable livelihoods (such as tourism) to protect environmental resources.