The Role of Revitalized Community Empowerment Practices in Enhancing Local Ownership of Tourism Enterprises Alleviating Poverty in Kinigi Sector, Rwanda

Abstract

Nature based tourism has rapidly been growing in rural areas while the communities remain economically marginalized. This study examines the role of revitalized community empowerment practices in enhancing local ownership of tourism enterprises mitigating poverty in the Kinigi Sector, Musanze District. Using a mixed-methods descriptive research design, primary and secondary data were collected from 272 sampled local members of community cooperatives and tourism cum conservation stakeholders. The findings reveal that targeted capacity building, community expertise – specifically tourism awareness and knowledge dissemination, availability of accessible resources, and government service provision are statistically significant predictors of successful indigenous enterprise ownership and management. Furthermore, empowering residents to participate in community-based tourism (CBT), expanding the Tourism Revenue Sharing (TRS) basket and program allows the community to leverage natural and financial resources, leading to evident improvement in the local living standards. The study concludes that revitalized empowerment practices directly stimulates local innovativeness, inclusiveness, enabling entrepreneurs to design competitive, authentic community tourism products and services.