Rwanda pushes for its tourism agenda

Given the fact that the Rwanda’s tourism business contributes a huge amount of revenue to country and thus a considerable contribution to the national GDP and foreign exchange earnings, the government has continued to support the sector and will keep it that way. Rwanda joined the rest of the world in celebrating the World Tourism Day which was celebrated not so long ago under this year’s theme ‘Tourism and Community Development’.

Amb. Yamina Karitanyi who is the head of tourism and conservation at the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) said that this celebration was a chance for Rwanda to reflect on how Rwanda is investing in facilities to meet the growing demand of especially the conference and meeting areas. Karitanyi said Rwanda was on course to implementing its national tourism master plan to secure the sector’s contribution to the economy in line with the Vision 2020 which plan involve successfully diversifying the tourism experience beyond  just gorillas to other things like cultural tourism.

It is very important to meet the growing demand in tourism in Rwanda and with the soon to be completed Kigali Conference Center which will be the largest in the East and Central Africa this will be met. So far, they have invested adequately in convention bureau and other infrastructure and are now looking for investors for spa and golf resort hotels at Lake Kivu and a cable car system on the slopes of the volcanoes national park which will make movement around the park very easier and fun for tourists. This will also attract the domestic tourists.

The latest idea is having a new cultural village to showcase the spectrum of the nation’s heritage in one setting.

There is more than Rwf1.962billion that has been given back to the community to support schools, hospital around the parks, and community owned projects and this is all contributing to the sector’s development and it is done through a project called profit sharing. In return the communities protect the communities help with protecting the parks and the wildlife from encroachers and poachers.

The new marketing strategies will also ensure Rwanda’s growth in tourism is sustained and with the introduction of the single tourist visa, the RDB believes the tourism sector will highly improve as many tourists will then be able to easily cross from one nation into Rwanda.

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