Long fabled as the place where honey and milk flows unhindered and the land of a thousand hills, it is indeed a place where deep volcanic forces are pressing the continental plates apart, thus a world of exquisite beauty and unsurpassed biodiversity.

True to the above, Rwanda to the tourism connoisseurs has been known for its endangered primates, the mountain gorillas (Rwanda actually controlling 324 of the world’s 700 mountain gorillas).

Then the awe some biodiversity of this country, is the other or second attraction that Rwanda has always been known for with tropical forests like Nyungwe offering spectacular sightings including the multitude of bird species, diversity of flora and numerous hidden waterfalls, with exquisite and excellent sights to hold.

For the above, a normal tourist’s itinerary has been designed, however a little scratch reveals that there is more that the tourist miss or do not dwell upon for as much time as they should.

The Artifacts and Curios

These range from wood carvings to weaved mats, fancy baskets, paintings and what have you. Tourist’s treks are normally incomplete with out the proofs of their feats and the only proof of their endeavors, are the curios and artifacts collected during their journeys. Thus clearly an important spoke in this Rwandan tourism wheel.

In as much as this aspect of the tourism industry doesn’t seem to come at the fore front, it is not entirely forgotten in the mud rash to make Rwandan tourism a success.

Testimony to the above is the battle cry that is raging at the national tourism office-“foster responsible tourism”. A simple explanation of the above concept is basically how much of that tourism revenue goes deep down to the locals and what can and is being done to channel that much!

First of all, how much is at play here: well according the ORTPN 2004 report, “on an average the tourists spent US$ 218 a day and 2.1 days at each one of the gorilla parks, which makes US$ 458 for four days per park” yet there is more to that assuming they did not only watch gorillas. And how much of that gets down to the locals?

Now since these artifacts are made by the locals them selves, many at times from local material, to try and harness the revenue coming out of this business, there has been an organization of these individuals dealing in different kinds of crafts and putting them together so that the dividends coming out of this business are best put to use and are better managed for these crafts men and women.

The organizations aforementioned, are the numerous cooperative associations that are cropping up all over the country in a bid to tap on the flowing streams of the tourist’s money. These cooperative associations have helped a great deal in bringing together these various artists and front one united market.

According to the proprietor of COOPABU crafts shop (who preferred anonymity) on KBC building in Kacyiru, there over 11 cooperatives under there umbrella, operating around the country with big art shops that have helped market the product of these local artists.

According to this proprietor, these cooperatives go way back in the tourism history of this country, since they have existed for over 20years, have always acted like middle men for the local producers of these artifacts and with time they have evolved to become whole sellers and at the same time retailers of the products of these local artists.

Apparently the local producers of these products are (a bigger number of them) affiliated to one or the other cooperative. The COOPABU and the other proprietors of these cooperatives shops will have a selected group of suppliers of who are affiliated to their association and they are the ones who will supply them with the artifacts to be sold.

This way of conducting business has greatly contributed to the enhancing of the incomes of the various artists that are affiliated to the respective association. As the aforementioned proprietor disclosed, that with good returns, a weaver of mats and decorative baskets could walk away at the end of the month 50.000 francs richer.

This has greatly helped improve tourism on either sides of the coin. One, the tourists no longer have to be jostled and coaxed into buying artifacts along the way without having the opportunity of being exposed to choice and selection.

Yet on the other side, selling of artifacts has been defined to be a serious house hold income generator since the income is a steady inflow.

Coupled with the above targets plus attained achievements, the cooperatives have diversified to meddle into women empowerment. Well according to the proprietor of COOPABU, KBC building, of the 11 associations that are under the umbrella, of COOPABU, only 2 are run by men whilst the rest are managed by women and this has greatly inspired the other women who are involved in this trade.

Tourism itself has greatly improved with more to see and take than just mountain gorillas, biodiversity and hotels. This is witnessed in the fact that not only do the tourists spend money on hotels, game parks, they also go home with plenty curios and artifacts.

Finally to urge the powers that be to empower the more these cooperatives, I will probably quote what the State Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, Tourism and Cooperatives Protais Mitali said during the last celebrations world tourism day in September. “let us not put all our eggs in one basket-mountain gorilla but rather diversify the tourism sector to lure tourists to stay longer than the current average of 2.1days and spend more than US $218 a day.”

Rwanda’s tourism sector is experiencing a boom thanks to the government’s new approach to a sector that was until recently on the verge of total failure. Like any other sectors of the economy, the tourism sector was gravely affected by the 1994 genocide and war. But unlike the rest of the sectors, it had to take a combination of creativity, marketing, image building and most importantly, time. The tourism sector was officially re-launched in 2003 with the government’s approach taking a new twist.

A new strategy was put in place as the Rwandan government recognized tourism as the leading sector. The government’s tourism body- (Office Rwandaise de Tourisme et des Parcs Nationaux- ORTPN) was reformed and given a new and dynamic Director. The results are overwhelming. Only two years after the people of Rwanda can look back and give a pat on each other’s backs…

The Accolades

Between March 10 and March 15 Rwanda participated in the prestigious annual International Tourism Board (ITB) exhibition held in Berlin, Germany. Participants from Rwanda included: ORTPN- the body in charge of Rwandan tourism and national parks, International Tours Travel, Volcanoes Safaris, Primate Safaris, Concord-Magic Safaris, Thousand Hills Expeditions, Intercontinental Kigali Hotel and Kivu Sun Hotel. This event provided an opportunity for Rwanda to prove that with good governance, peace and stability, any country can rise from its past to shine among its peers. Rwanda beat several other countries to the fourth position. Most of these countries like Kenya are traditional tourists’ destinations, with a century-old tourism infrastructure and without a history of conflict.

The exhibition is an opportunity for countries and tourism stakeholders to showcase what they have to offer and conclude tourism deals. It is also a learning experience. ITB-Berlin this year attracted 180 countries, 10,000 exhibitors (tour operators, booking systems, travel destinations, airlines, hotels and car rental companies), over 142,000 visitors and over 75,000 trade visitors. At such exhibitions ORTPN gets to know the tourists views on the country, what they think of Rwanda, what they love about it, where improvements need to be made whether in the hotel or service sector and a lot more.

The New Strategy

ORTPN has now started putting in place a strategy in line with the 2020 Vision. There is a tourism working group and a strategy firm called On the Frontier has been commissioned to provide their expertise to this end. The year 2010 has been decided as a mid-term target. That is when it shall be evaluated whether there have been tangible benefits made.

The target is to generate a minimum of US $100m in direct and indirect receipts coming from tourism as revenue, by 2010. Basically, this is to say that if Rwanda can get about 70,000 visitors by 2010 with each spending a minimum of US $ 1,500 per week, US $ 100m can be raised. ORTPN believes this is very achievable. So every year, a target of expected visitors has been set and so far, the expectations have been met with commendable success. But Rwanda’s strategy does not target only the numbers but also the length of stay. Rwanda was able to learn from her neighbors like Kenya and borrowed a leaf from what happened in Mauritius and Kenya in 1995 where the two countries managed to generate US$ 500,000 but Kenya had received 800,000 visitors and Mauritius had 80,000 visitors.

Rwanda is a small country going for eco-tourism. The Government is looking for high-end tourism and the bottom line is going to be working on the length of stay. Limited numbers that are staying for a long time is what is targeted thereby increasing the receipts. The ultimate goal is to put less pressure on resources, conserve environment, and also be able to address the current issue of making sure that the benefit of tourism in terms of money is actually visible.

The current trend is not to out compete other countries but rather to become an added destination. ORTPN is determined to make Rwanda a compliment to the region. That is the initial strategy and experts’ eyes will be watching closely to see how it evolves. Clearly, this was dictated by where the country comes from. The government does not expect people to fly directly into Rwanda.

So the new strategy is to position Rwanda as a complimentary destination to the people who are already coming into the region. That is working very well even with the products that Rwanda currently has. For instance, between Kenya and Rwanda people are actually saying they want to start with the Masai Mara and end with the gorillas. Or start with the gorillas and end with the Masai- Mara. In terms of tourism it becomes one trip. Analysts say Kenya has outsold itself and in terms of this they really need something new to offer.

When they approach clients and say they can add Rwanda to the destination, it is easy for them to sell. As the ORTPN’s dynamic director describes it “It becomes a win-win situation” because Rwanda was able to tap into the clients that were already coming into Kenya, which is already a well-known destination. This is done with other countries like Uganda and Tanzania too.