Potential Monopoly Rents from International Wildlife Tourism: An Example from Uganda's Gorilla Tourism

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.