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Rwanda: From a ‘hell on earth’ to a tourist site visited by 908,000 visitors
Posted: Tuesday July 14, 2009 1:24 PM BT
By Michael Wakabi
Fourteen years later, when Time featured the country on its cover (February 2008), it was the more engaging picture of Rwandan traditional dancers entertaining a smiling US President George W. Bush during his visit to the country then.

To Rosette Rugamba, deputy CEO in charge of tourism at the Rwanda Development Board, those two images capture the progress Rwanda has made over the past decade and a half.

"From a tourism perspective, that image of skulls in 1994, aptly captures the challenge we faced in terms of perception and image," she says.

Tourism is a sensitive industry the slightest hiccup can work against a destination. In 1994, Rwanda was devastated but quickly got back on its feet and embarked on picking up the pieces.

Faced with multiple challenges of a post-conflict economy, it was not until 2001 that Rwanda finally found the breathing space to turn its attention to its tourism potential.

It is true you must have a product, says Rugamba, but it is tougher when you have to fight a bad image.

"Rwanda was coming from the negative where you had to tell the market that this was a secure country even before you could think of inviting them to visit, " said Rugamba.

With only 651 hotel rooms and about 10,000 tourists calling, the Rwandan government turned to American firm OTF for a winning strategy. OTF put the accent on tourism not only as the industry that would help re¬shape perceptions about the country but also play a key role in poverty reduction.

Although everything was a priority between 1994 and 2001 no infrastructure, schools or hotels the government chose to move beyond charity and social needs.

"If we were going to move on as a nation, we had to define key economic priorities even as we struggled with the myriad social problems," Rugamba says of that defining moment.

From the moment OTF sold tourism as a key economic sector to government, the country has not looked back. Choosing a high-end low volume high value strategy to guide the sector's development, the government set what have turned out to be modest targets. It was anticipated that 70,000 tourists would be received by 2010 and they would spend $100 million. Last year, 908,000 visitors were recorded and they spent $204 million in the country.

For three consecutive years since 2007, Rwanda has won the best exhibitor award for the African region at the Berlin International Tourism exhibition. What is more, hotel rooms have increased from 651 in 2001 to 4,452 today. The sector employs 413,000 people while more than 50 documentaries have been produced on the country and over 250 articles have appeared in international me¬dia about the new Rwanda.

For the past four years, tourism has been the top foreign exchange earner for Rwanda, overtaking tea and coffee. Every year, international stars and celebrities troop to the country to visit and be part of the annual gorilla naming ceremony in June.

However, few people are aware of the behind-the-scenes role the government has played in bringing tourism to the fore, says Rugamba.

"The government is rarely acknowledged but where other destinations have succeeded because of their natural assets, ours has succeeded because the government has done everything to ensure that the environment is conducive and given full support to the sector.

For the past four years, tourism has been the top foreign exchange earner for Rwanda, overtaking tea and coffee
The EastAfrican
 
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