With Rwanda positioning itself as a regional conference hub, investors in the country’s hospitality industry have pledged to double the efforts and help support the realisation of this goal.

Seth Tugume, the Rwanda Hospitality Association chief, said this will enable sector actors, including the small players to benefit from the country’s nascent Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Events (MICE) industry.

In an exclusive interview with The New Times, Tugume said; "If Rwanda is positioning itself as a MICE tourism hub, it is not only the high end hotels to gain. People who come for conferences can stay in big hotels but will also check out the small hotels and bars for a beer in the evening or go to a night club in town,” he said.

He added that the not-so-big sector investors are not supposed to operate as adversaries in relation to global brands in Rwanda, "but all of us should complement each other”.

"Whatever the size, the cardinal goal is to sell the Rwanda brand. Besides, when the big and high end operators host conferences the small brands also benefit as not all the delegates have the same financial capacity and will stay at neighbouring small hotels. This way, the small operators who are mainly local also benefit,” he said.

Supporting MICE goals

In 2014, Rwanda Development Board launched the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events initiative to position Rwanda’s hospitality as a top conferences destination to boost the tourism industry and improve its contribution to national economy, as well as widen opportunities for sector players.

Rwanda had projected to earn $150 million from the MICE sector in 2015, or 16 per cent of all national export earnings and 34 per cent of the overall tourism receipts, under the MICE strategy.

With this growth in MICE tourism, hospitality industry players are expected to enhance their product offering to meet customer demands.

However, Tugume urged Rwandan investors to become innovative to keep up with the market demands as far as the emerging trends in hospitality are concerned. This is especially in the areas of customer service and facilities like Internet connectivity and pickup services.

He said players have committed to train staff periodically to improve their skills and ensure that service delivery meets world standards so that the sector stays competitive.

"Service delivery is very paramount in all the sectors of the industry at all the levels and sizes. However, the survival of the hospitality industry depends on excellence as far as customer service is concerned,” he said.

Challenges

Though industry players are working hard to improve services, Tugume said they still face a number of challenges. He said the high interest rate charged by commercial banks poses a huge challenge, adding that investing in the hospitality industry requires a lot of money as initial startup capital. The high rates, he said, affect the growth of many small players as they barely make a profit to expand, provide world class facilities or hire qualified personnel.

He also said the hospitality sector lacks a pool of qualified professionals, which forces hotel owners to hire expats from the region and elsewhere.

"We are still hiring labour from neighbouring Kenya and Uganda because the number of Rwandan professionals in the hospitality industry is still very low,” he said.

Top destination for 2017

Rwanda was named among top destinations for 2017 by global media. Bloomberg and CNN voted Rwanda among the 17 best destinations of choice for this year, while San Francisco Chronicle placed it among the top 10.

Rwanda’s earnings from tourism were projected to rise by 25.8 per cent last year compared to 2015, reaching $400 million this year, up from $318 million the previous year. Travel and tourism is seen as a highly attractive growth industry for Africa. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, it is responsible for 8.1 per cent of GDP and it is projected to rise at 4.9 per cent per annum until 2025.

Rwanda has hosted key continental and global conferences events over the past two years, including the Africa Hotel Investment Forum, the Interpol AGM, World Economic Forum on Africa and Africa Union Summit and CHAN (African Nations Championship), among others.

More marketing required

Meanwhile, Tugume called for more efforts geared at marketing the country as a whole so that the hospitality industry receive more clientele. He said most of the emphasis is put on facilities in Kigali and tourist areas.

This, he argued, puts some up-country sectors in hard position as they do not benefit from the windfalls of major conferences and events hosted in the country.