Rwanda Development Board (RDB) has entered final preparations ahead of the 10th celebration of the  annual baby gorilla-naming ceremony, Kwita Izina.

The head of tourism and conservation in RDB, Amb. Yamina Karitanyi, said the 10th Kwita Izina event will be a celebration of conservation efforts.

In an exclusive interview, Karitanyi said the annual event, due July 1, has served to protect Mountain Gorillas, which are an endangered species, as well as gather community support toward conservation.

"We have registered an increase in the number of Mountain Gorilla population in the country, and our leadership has matched the efforts in conservation by collaborating with the community. The community has taken over the protection of the species and accorded support to the initiative,” Karitanyi said.

The tourism chief said besides marketing the country’s profile as a tourist destination, the event has helped in exposing the Rwandan culture to the rest of the world.

This is the 10th Kwita Izina ceremony. What are the achievements that have been sustained since inception?

Kwita Izina is a celebration of efforts in conservation. It is also coinciding with liberation celebrations. It was deliberate in a way because it adds to the celebrations of liberation.

The achievements over the years are quite notable. The first is the protection and conservation of endangered species. We have registered an increase in the number of gorilla population that we have in the country.

The second is that our leadership has supported the efforts in conservation by collaborating with the community. The community has taken over the protection of the species and accorded support to the initiative. 

A result of their efforts is the increase in the gorilla population in the country. The purpose for the emphasis of the conservation of the species is that receipts from gorilla tracking are paramount to the revenues of the government and the tourism industry.

Has it in any way increased the country’s profile as a tourist destination?

It gives us as two-fold exposure. One is to commemorate the achievements of the conservation efforts, it also exposes our culture to the rest of the world, baby naming, which is critical in image building.

It has been consistent for the last ten years and each year we have been able to raise awareness on what our conservation efforts have been able to produce.

What are the highlights of this year’s event?

 It will be elevating, recognising and celebrating what the community, the government and the conservation stakeholders have been able to achieve.

 There will be different ‘namers’ and, like we have done in the past, we will ensure variety this year to include not only Rwandans but the international community as well.

Public private partnerships have been mentioned as facilitators to most sectors’ growth. Does the partnership stand a chance in the tourism industry?

The key issue now is to enhance the partnership to have better synergies in what we do and work together to raise the standards of the tourism and hospitality industry at large.

We are not only moving to market the country as a tourism destination, we also have additional products. 

Among the new products is Meetings, Incentives and Conferences and Exhibitions (Mice). To do that, you also require to have logistical capacity. Logistical capacities that are in line with international expectations and standards. That is one aspect that the government and the private sector are working together closely to be up to international standards.

In leisure tourism, we are also diversifying.

We are not only marketing Gorillas, we are also trying to raise the profile of other parks as well as cultural and religious tourism. That comes with a more divergent client base and we are working hard with private sector stakeholders to see that they are prepared. 

We should be constantly ready to receive tourists in any sector.  The close collaboration will establish close synergy because the government cannot be marketing the country on one hand and not raising and sharing the expectations with other industry players, which will be a mismatch. We have to co-habit and move in the same direction.

 What are the main areas of the collaboration?

In tourism, we cooperate on all fronts including promotion. Most of the time when public officials are on promotional trips, we always include private sector players such as tourism operators and operators in the hospitality industry.

We work together in training and we are always on the look out to see that whatever could  be beneficial to the  private sector is availed through international trainings.  It is our obligation to bring synergy. We also share our plans with the private sector and are always in consultations to address common challenges.

Among the issues raised by the private sector is high taxes and too many requirements and standards; how far are you willing to negotiate with the private sector?

Taxes have been a constant conversation issue with the private sector, the issue of taxation keeps coming up. We are working within the government’s institutions to see what could be done to help alleviate the tax burden; we also understand that for government to be functional we need to collect taxes.

At least we have two winning partners who are working to facilitate each other.

About quality, we have to raise our standards, we are operating in the EAC region and we cannot afford to be behind the EAC standards. Soon we will have our tourism bill gazette and our role will be more of a regulator. 

These standards requirements are not meant to be punishments to players, they are meant to help them achieve highest possible standards and quality in order to be competitive. We understand that change is difficult and we are trying to manage that as best as we can but the reality is that we can not compromise our standards.

Someone could come to the country as a tourist and come back as an investor depending on how you treat them and the first impression that they get on the ground. We use that first experience as our promotion, hence the need to see that everything is in order. We should be able to handle the numbers that come our way.

Have you had a chance to evaluate the county’s performance during the recent weeklong Africa Development Bank Meeting?

The feedback has been positive. It was an undertaking that the government and the private sector took very seriously. 

We still have logistical and capacity issues but we are overcoming that considering that a couple of new hotels are coming up by next year. They are expected to add a capacity of about 600 standard rooms. 

That will put us at ease in going after other conferences. But overall, we met the expectations and exceeded them in some ways.

Quality is still an issue though and we are discussing with stakeholders to ensure that we are not counterproductive.

What strategies do you have to market Mice initiative?

We have been monitoring the conferences that are being held in the country because that will give us the feel of what is required in the industry. We are also addressing and finding solutions to the issues that are coming up.

But as we do this, we have to keep reminding them that they are the ones in business and for them to get better returns, there is investment and efforts required.

The feedback you get in the hospitality industry is very direct and to the point and should lead to instant change. You know exactly what areas require change, as an owner or investor.

For example, connectivity issue during the African Development Bank meeting in some hotels.

We created a conventional bureau and we are in touch with international conference organisers and centres to see how to bring more events here.   We are awaiting the completion of Kigali convention centre which will give us the status to speak with authority regarding the type of conferences we can host.

All the way from the head of state to minister and government officials, promoting Rwanda as a conference host has been at the core of all the promotions that we are planning to do.

We have a target to triple the $49 million we received last year to $150 million by 2015 using the Mice initiative.

What is the progress with the East African Community joint tourism marketing initiative?

We have made inroads regarding the initiative; there are events at national level being marketed by the member countries.

Two weeks ago, the Martyrs Day in Uganda was one such event where Rwanda and Uganda joined in marketing of the event.

Kwita Izina is coming up and we have invited the tourism boards of neighbouring countries and beyond that we will have familiarisation trips where they will tour Rwanda and add their packages.

We also have international exhibitions where we have a common exhibition stand and also promoting the single tourist visa that has been operational.

Our immigration agents are working hand in hand to handle any issues that might arise though we have not had any.

Do you have a revenue distribution model?

Revenue distribution is quite straight forward; whichever embassy that receives the application will receive the $100 on behalf of the three countries. There will be a $10 administrative fee that remains with the country that issues the visa and the Remainder ($90) distributed among the member countries equally.

Are you willing to accommodate more countries into the initiative?

The idea of this integration project is to make it as big and as powerful as possible. The bigger the better, it will give us better selling points. It will be to our advantage if we work with more countries. 

Are you afraid that the growing fears of insecurity in Kenya posed by al-Shabaab could affect the initiative?

We hope not.  What is ongoing is country consultations with our security being in touch with Kenya’s to make sure that whatever assistance to be rendered is there keeping in mind that when you are one region you stand a better chance against a common threat.

We hope that the situation will be tamed, and we also hope that looking at it regionally, we stand a better chance than in isolation.

One is still at liberty to purchase a single visa, if one is interested in visiting one country, they can acquire a visa to that specific country hence it will not affect performance of any country.