The Kwita Izina ceremony to transform the industry

Rwanda is all set for the up coming  9th baby gorilla naming ceremony commonly called the ‘Kwita Izina,’ and with this event, all tour operators in Rwanda are so hopeful that the event will continue to expose the country to the rest of the  world if they promote it world wide. This festival started in 2005 and since then it has been held year after year, so far, there are more than 140 baby gorillas that have been named since. This time, there are about 12 baby gorillas that will be named  during the event scheduled for June 22, in Kinigi, Musanze District, under the theme, ‘Celebrating Nature, Empowering Communities’.

Meanwhile, the president of the Rwanda Tours and Travel Association Manzi Kayihura did mention that the event has been very essential to the transformation of Rwanda’s tourism sector  therefore has greatly facilitated  the growth of the tourism industry. He added that before the started holding this ceremony, the tour operators’ business was really small because tourists were few and not so many people knew about the existence of the mountain gorillas in Rwanda. 

Also Kayihura, who is the head of the Thousand Hills Expeditions, said the Kwita Izina has become a major event on international conservation calendar which is evidenced by the increasing numbers of tourists who are coming to Rwanda to be apart of the occasion. The exercise is very crucial to their business, he emphasized.

The ceremony that has been attended by international celebrities, conservationists and media personalities in years has seen Rwanda’s tourism grow to extraordinary levels, generating a lot of revenue for the government. For instance, last year the tourism sector generated $281.8m which was about Rwf178 billion while the previous years generated $251.3m which was Rwf159 billion registering an increase of 17% basing on the 2012 Rwanda Development Board report.

Michael Tango who is a tourism consultant at Primate Safaris mentioned that tour operators have managed to generate more revenues from the tourists while selling the event. More tourists have been registered entering the country thus leading to the growth of the industry.  He also said that there are about 80 tourists that visit Rwanda every day just to watch the gorillas thus it is the most selling attraction in the country.

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