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Episode description
How do you build a tourism business that grows with the community and creates real value for everyone involved?
That’s Community-Based Tourism the Kara-Tunga way! 🤝
In this episode of Sustainable Today, Successful Tomorrow, Anne sits down with Theo Vos, founder of Kara-Tunga, a tour operator in Northern Uganda that’s leading the way in community-based travel.
They talk about building a sustainable business model, earning local trust, and redefining authenticity through collaboration. 💬
Theo shares how Kara-Tunga has developed experiences rooted in culture, ownership, and pride, while successfully reaching a broad audience. 🌿
From managing expectations to marketing what truly matters, this conversation is packed with practical insights for anyone looking to make community-based tourism meaningful and successful. If you’re exploring how to grow community-based tourism with care, purpose, and impact, this episode is for you. 🎧
Responses
Hi Anne & Rik,
Thank you guys for putting together such an exciting episode focusing on community-based tourism. Having lived in Rwanda for the past 14 years, I just returned to Uganda (my home country) and realise how the intricate, diverse communities offer an interesting opportunity to blend and learn more about their sacred practices. It is evident the modern-day traveler is seeking that emotional connection with the locals (when you think about it, we are all locals somewhere) This approach that does not only enrich travelers experiences, but also empowers local communities with by providing economic opportunities and preserving identities of their unique traditions, heritages, and sacred practices. I witnessed this model to be successful in Rwanda with Beyond The Gorrillas Experience, a community-based tourism owned by Theodore (perhaps you guys can make a podcast on him. His successful model brings in more revenue than the big fish selling spotlight tourist areas. I learned this from my previous conversation about exploring possible collaboration on a venture I am yet to unveil here in Uganda)
Much respect to you. Keep up the good work.
Best,
Bahati Everest
Hi Everest,
Thank you so much for your comment and it’s so good to hear you enjoyed our community-based tourism episode!
You’re absolutely right: more travellers are looking for genuine connections when they travel and CBT is such a powerful way to make that happen. Benefitting both the traveller and the local community!
Thank you for sharing the example of Beyond the Gorillas Experience. It’s great to see there are so many more successful CBT practices.
Please feel free to share any other stories or ideas you think might inspire our audience, we always love hearing them.
Thanks again!