Between July 2013 and June 2014, Rwanda received 1.17 million visitors, compared to the previous year with 1.14 million tourists. Rwanda tourism revenues increased from $293m in 2013, to $303m in 2014, representing a 3% increase, Rwanda Development Board (RDB) says.
RDB targets the $860m mark by 2016. However, experts warn that the target is too ambitious and may not be attained due to various shortcomings, especially in the quality of services.
“When you look at Rwanda’s tourism growth in a regional perspective, a lot needs to be done,” said Joseph Opondo, a lecturer at Rwanda Tourism University. “There should be more efforts to improve services in different sectors of this country.” According to Opondo, this is due to the fact that Rwanda has a few tourism institutions that are unable to produce professionals who provide satisfactory services in this growing economy.
The Rwanda Development Board has identified a number of vital tools for increasing tourism revenue. These range from initiatives such as Meetings, Incentives, Conferences (MICE) and new tourism products including Religious Tourism, to Caves Tourism in Rwanda’s Northern Province, The country is also investing in tourism marketing on the regional and international level, with liaison offices in various countries.
(Rwanda was recently named a ‘must-see destination’ by CNN Fodor’s Travel, and Ronnie Harris of “Under African Skies” has since been appointed as representative in the USA. www.underafricanskies.net).
Moses Rutayisire, the Co-ordinator of the Tourism Chamber at Rwanda Private Sector Federation (PSF), informed KTPress that three more projects, viz. the Kalisimbi cable car on Kalisimbi Mountain, a boat service on Lake Kivu and a cultural village are expected to generate large volumes of tourism traffic in the next few years.
