Reopening of borders sees tour car rental companies return to business

The reopening of the country’s borders following the Coronavirus lockdown to the rest of the world have signaled a much sought for progress for the tourism industry.

There was total lockdown of the country for the biggest part of 2020 over the Coronavirus pandemic and this saw a number of sectors, including tourism come to their knees.

However, in October last year, government slowly reopened the economy as the Coronavirus cases went down.

Since then, thousands of international and local travelers have arrived or departed the country to visit their favourite tourism sites.

According to Moses Byamungu, the director for  Car Rental Congo Sarl, a company that offers car hire services within Uganda, DRC and other East and Central African countries, the reopening of the borders has seen some growth in tourism numbers and return into business the tour car rental  companies.

“With the reopening of the Virunga tourism on April 1, 2021 and the phased opening of the hospitality industry after the world-wide lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have now reopened our doors to serve our clients better,” Byamungu said.

Citing his own company, Byamungu said since their main targets are travelers to DR Congo for adventure in mainly the primate parks of Virunga National Park and Kahuzi Biega National Park where they are open for conducting business, Congo Gorilla Trekking, Okapi, Nyiragongo Volcano and Bonobos as well as other parts of Uganda, they have registered an increase in the number of visitors with the reopening of the borders.

“The reopening allowed travelers, Non-Governmental Organisations, United Nation Agencies and other individuals an easy way to connect between cities, airport transfers within the Democratic Republic of Congo and East Africa at large. This has since boosted the tourism numbers and clients who hire our vehicles,” he said.

Byamungu said they have also partnered with Self-Drive Uganda Limited, a Ugandan based car rental business to provide services to tourists.