Visit Rwanda! The Land of a Thousand Hills.
I think it is fair to say that Visit Rwanda - the country’s tourism board - is one of the foremost tourism boards in the world, with an instantly recognisable brand and logo which also adorns the football jerseys of Arsenal F.Cand Paris Saint-Germain.
According to the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), tourism is the largest source of foreign exchange earnings in Rwanda.
The country’s Chief Tourism Officer, who heads Visit Rwanda, is also part of the RDB and this enables a seemingly seamless alignment between the country’s development plans and its growth in tourism.
This includes:
🇷🇼the creation of Rwanda as a sports hub - the Basketball Africa League (BAL) 🏀 🇸🇳🇪🇬🇷🇼 and the RDB recently announced a multi-year extension of their existing collaboration that will see the BAL continue to play games at BK Arena in Kigali.
🇷🇼the creation of Rwanda as a conference hub.
🇷🇼a focus on sustainable tourism, such as daily limits on the access to the famous Mountain gorillas, and a proceed of income from the gorilla treks donated to local community initiatives.
🇷🇼 social impact initiatives as part of its global events such as BAL and its supporting youth development and social impact programs.
Sustainable tourism is the present and future, and it is wonderful to see Rwanda setting the standard globally and linking this to its national development objectives.
And true to the country’s commitment to gender equality, it is particularly impressive to see that the CEO of the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) Clare Akamanzi, the CEO of RwandAir Ltd Yvonne Manzi Makolo, the Minister for Sports Aurore Mimosa Munyangaju and the Chief Tourism Officer Michaella Rugwizangoga (not pictured) are all women.
Representation in action, and I cannot wait to Visit Rwanda and of course, host a Talking Drums Travel Adventure to Rwanda! 🇷🇼
