Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya have designed a joint marketing strategy to promote the newly-launched East African single tourist visa to attract more tourists.

This was announced yesterday at a joint media conference addressed by Rwanda Development Board chief executive Valentine Rugwabiza, Ugandan High Commissioner to Rwanda Richard Kabonero and his Kenyan counterpart in Kigali John Mwangemi.

The officials said it was imperative for the visa to be publicised worldwide.

The development comes after the three countries shared a pavilion at the recent Internationale Tourismus-Börse (ITB) exhibition in Berlin, Germany, last week.

Upcoming trade fairs

The countries are now eying the upcoming trade fairs to market the visa to international tourists.

Rica Rwigamba, the head of tourism department at RDB, said the EAC visa will be showcased in one booth in May at Indaba Trade Fair in Durban, South Africa, as well as at world trade market in London scheduled for November.

She said they have developed a joint marketing platform that will help identify all the necessary areas to market the visa.

"We are also looking at Eastern Europe, China to market the project and attract more tourists and investments,” Rwigamba said, adding that they are also counting on national annual events, including Kwita Izina, a gorilla naming ceremony in Rwanda, and Martyrs Day celebration in Uganda.

 Other celebrated days in Kenya will be targeted as well, to market the project and attract more tourists, she said.

Amb Rugwabiza said the positive reception at the Berlin event gave a new impetus to the three countries to expand the marketing strategy.

At the fair, the tripartite states were ranked among the top five exhibitors where each showcased different iconic tourist attractions and traditional dancers revealing diversity of the East African destination.

Rwanda emerged best exhibitor from the continent, Kenya third and Uganda fifth.

"What we needed was to make a survey and see how the world reacts to this project and the response was clear; we now need to embark on attracting more investors and tourists in our region for the development of our economies,” Rugwabiza said.

Easing borders

The three states were evaluated among nearly 200 exhibitors with 11,000 booths, according to numerous criteria such as interactivity, authenticity, creativity, sustainability, design of the stand and service quality.

Amb. Kabonero said it was important to facilitate free cross-border movement by removing all barriers. 

"The introduction of the East Africa tourist visa in Berlin is an indication of the commitment of the three countries to market themselves as a single tourist destinationm,” he said.

"The recognition of the three states is further suggestive that the destination will indeed attract a great number of travellers since they will benefit from the multiple entry visa provision.”

Tourism in East Africa is among the major foreign exchange earners, with enormous employment opportunities in the region.

Rwanda Development Board projects the tourism industry to contribute more than 15 per cent of GDP by 2020.

The visa spearheaded by Rwanda saves potential tourists time and the rigorous process of having to move from one embassy to the other to apply for different visas to travel across the East African region.

‘No unfair competition’

Kenya’s Mwangemi said his country was looking at attracting more tourists from South Korea, China and other parts of Asia to visit the region.

He added that Kenya was looking at expanding the tourism sector by diversifying to other tourist attractions, including the golfing, conference tourism which he said will add immensely to the partner states tourism products.

"We need to diversify from the traditional tourist attractions and come up with new products on the market to attract more tourists,” he said.

Meanwhile, Manzi Kayihura, the president of Rwanda Tours and Travel Association, dismissed the claims that the project will create unnecessary competition within the three countries.

Some tour operators in Ugandan recently expressed their worries about the project, saying Rwanda and Kenya could attract more tourists because of their vibrant marketing strategies.

"We are marketing the region as three countries, nobody should worry about competition,”  he said.