Whereas there are several initiatives to combat poverty in the developing countries,it has been observed that tourism may be, for developing countries like Rwanda, one of the most viable options for advancing their economic and social development. However, there are still unexplored scientific arguments to support the real impacts of these programmes at various levels. The present research attempted to contribute to fill this gap in the scientific literature about tourism and poverty alleviation. Its essential theoretical implication was to identify the main determinants that support the wide concept of capacity building and its role in triggering poverty reduction through tourism.

During the study, a non-probabilistic sample of seventy (70) respondents was used. Thus, primary data was collected from local people of Kinigi Sector of Musanze District. The main research instruments used were directed questionnaires and documentation. Primary data collected were first entered in SPSS and then analysed using its descriptive tools.

The study revealed that, tourism related activities have helped the local people to get jobs and create small scale projects, hence contributing towards the reduction of poverty in the area. Besides, it was observed that tourism has helped the local people to get markets for their agricultural and handcraft products. Based on elementary poverty indicators, the study has shown that general living conditions of rural people has improved because of tourism. Based on the scope and delimitation of the study, some recommendations were provided.