Reports from India indicate that tourists from the Asian country who visited Rwanda increased by more than 30 times last year, from just 400 visitors in 2014 to 14,000 in 2015, according to Hindustan Times newspaper of India.

The newspaper indicated that Rwanda was among the list of new countries that Indians were exploring. This presents an opportunity to make inroads in Indian markets, especially as the local tourism department plans to sell the country as a wedding and honeymoon destination.

It is also important to note that emerging markets like India and China can help catapult Rwanda’s arrivals and earnings instead of depending on the US and European markets. Unlike the US and Europe, India is one of the few countries that are projected to register impressive growth rates of over 7.5 per cent this year and 2017 compared to US’s 2.1 per cent and between 1 and 2.7 per cent growth rate for most European countries (according to IMF projections).

Despite recent challenges facing the industrial sector and other areas of its economy, China is also poised to expand by 6.3 per cent in 2016. These figures mean it is time to look to other markets that were hitherto seen as ‘unattractive’ but actually have huge potential in terms of supporting the local tourism industry.

The growth of Indian visitors by 30-fold in one year could be attributed to efforts by Rwanda Development Board in promoting local destinations in India. It would be a clever move to widen these campaigns to cover countries like China, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and Malaysia.

In fact, most countries globally target Asian markets, so it’s high time Rwanda strengthened its campaigns in China and other countries that were previously ignored. This way, the tourism sector will be able to register sustainable growth and create more jobs for Rwandans.

Rwanda earned $317 million (about Rwf247.3 billion) from tourism last year as the country positions itself as a Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events (MICE) hub in the region.