WITH the number of business-related conferences held in the country on the rise, Rwanda looks set to earn more foreign exchange from hosting international conferences.

Charles Muia, the Serena Hotels Rwanda general manager who doubles as the vice chair of Rwanda Hotels Association says Rwanda has attained capacity to host international conferences, exhibitions, trade fairs and conventions regularly-making it a potential conference hub in the region.

"Rwanda has a big opportunity to tap into conference business. This business is flourishing worldwide and Rwanda now has the ideal infrastructure,” Muia said in an interview.

Muia explained that for a country to go into the conferences certain aspects have to be well thought through and Rwanda meets them.

"You have to think about the airline connectivity. If you are hosting a conference of 2,000 people you have to think about how quickly you can bring them. We now have Kenya Airways, KLM, Qatar, Turkish Airlines, Ethiopian and more international airlines plying the Kigali route,” he explained.

Muia cited the increased bed capacity in the country over the years as another crucial aspect which the country has addressed with more than 2,000 beds in Kigali as more hotels set up shop to increase this capacity. 

"The Marriot Hotel is coming up with close to 250 rooms; Radisson Hotel plans another 290 rooms. So with all these plus other hotels being constructed an additional 1,500 beds will be ready soon, which will be a big boost to the sector,” he explained. Latest Figures from the tourism department in the Rwanda Development Board indicate that Rwanda currently has more than 6,000 hotel rooms, which is way above any conference requirements. 

In addition most hotels have conference halls that are equipped with modern conference facilities and can accommodate a big number of guests.

The recently concluded Transform Africa conference pulled 1,500 delegates in the country to seek ways to increase broadband connectivity across the continent.

Services sector experts say this was one of Rwanda’s big breakthroughs to the conference business scene.

Muia says it will get better once the $300m (Rwf199.4b) Kigali Convention Center is complete to make Kigali the East African destination for hosting convention meetings.

Major components of the centre include a five star hotel with 292 rooms, a conference centre with a sitting capacity of 2,600, seven sub-divisible conference rooms and 10 smaller meeting rooms.

Tourism is Rwanda’s largest foreign exchange earner with $142.5m earned in the first semester of this year compared to $128.4m in the same period last year. The country received 664,729 visitors, up from 583,096 during the same period last year.

Rica Rwigamba, Head of Tourism and Conservation at the Rwanda Development Board yesterday said in a phone interview that by January, RDB would have launched meetings, conventions and exhibitions tourism segments.

"Conferences will be a key element in attracting business travelers come next year,” she said.

She said the launch of a convention bureau will be basically to promote Rwanda as a place for business travelers.

The convention bureau will use information on conferencing, accommodation facilities, restaurants as well as airlines flying in and out of the country to market Rwanda’s potential as a conference hub.