Potential Monopoly Rents from International Wildlife Tourism: An Example from Uganda's Gorilla Tourism
In: Eastern Africa social science research review: a publication of the Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern Africa and Southern Europe, Band 21, Heft 1, S. 1-18
ISSN: 1684-4173
The economic benefits many African countries derive from international
wildlife tourism are very few, especially when viewed from existing
potentials in terms of resources and uniqueness. African wildlife tourism
has natural barriers to entry and thus is basically a monopolistic market.
However, the countries have done virtually nothing to take advantage of
this situation. Rather than focusing on cost recovery or revenue
maximisation, the governments should therefore aim at maximising
profits from international tourism. Uganda is the case study of this paper
in this regard. Data collected from a travel cost survey indicates that in
1997, even under uniform pricing, Ugandan's profit from gorilla
tracking in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park alone could have
been increased by between USD 30,000 and USD 220,000 (depending
on assumptions about social costs). Besides, unlike most government
revenue sources, monopoly prices on international tourism do not
impose deadweight losses on the domestic economy.