‘Connect to the world’ has now been redefined as referring to pictures and words through a screen, where is the real connection?

I do have to agree it’s the simplest and fastest way to connect to people across the globe but I don’t believe that’s all this world has to offer! Do you?

when I want to connect to the world, I simply get into my tracks, slip on my sneakers, set my I pod on most likely Lokua kanza and step outside my front gate, and there you have it.

‘The land of a thousand hills’ I mean how much more could you really connect to the world unless you are actually out there exploring it, it may not be exciting but I truly feel it is a thousand times more expressive and rewarding, which leads to hoe I felt the need to write about tourism and how I believe the true story behind all its pretty gift wrappings, free vouchers and cruises as well as all the beautiful sunsets on the beach all boils down to one truth –Tourism is culture telling its story.

When it comes to tourism, the needs, expectations and anticipated benefits vary greatly from one destination to another but most importantly it truly depends on what the tourist is really looking to experience, when am taking a stroll in my neighborhood for example I still feel like a tourist in my own country and everyday I want to experience something that rekindles my love for my country of thousand hills and my country has not failed me yet.

Most tourists choose their destination according to the popularity rates and the country’s recognition abroad, others  for the true sense of exploration of the rich  cultures of the unheard and unknown(we all know what happened with Christopher Columbus I presume).

The principle of "one sits fits all” doesn’t  apply to destination planning this is clearing  exemplified in local communities living in regions with tourism potential, these countries develop a vision for what  kind of tourism they want to facilitate. 

In Rwanda for example am sure most people only learn upon arrival that the very first inhabitants in Rwanda were pygmoid hunters, ancestral to the modern Twa people who today only compromise of only 0.25% of the national population today or that arts and crafts, intore dancers, our national museums and beautiful national parks all have cultural heritage and history connected to them.

If you think about it Rwanda’s tourism package as a whole is all about our culture- from the volcanoes national park in northern Rwanda which is home to the worlds biggest number of endangered mountain gorillas to the modern day paintings which are made from cow dung, the rural Rwandan handcrafts of ceramics and basketry to our very own very famous intore dancers which traditionally mean ‘the chosen ones’ who once danced for the royal court’ carries our culture and beautifully demonstrates epics commemorating excellence, bravery  and hunting roots all making tourism in Rwanda a learning experience to be remembered.

Many other countries have opened up to the notion of tourism and culture as one, the previously isolated but spectacular mountainous regions of central Asia, the Hindu Kush, Himalayas which used to be closed to visitors from abroad  for so many years is now a tourist attraction to be explored for its ‘culture’ and splendid natural beauty.

Take note as I come to the conclusion of this article, culture is one of the indices that signify personal and natural identity. Walter Rodney’s definition of culture was "A culture is a total way of life, it embraces what people ate and what they wore, the way they walked and the way they talked; the manner in which they treated death and greeted newborn” now that’s a real way to connect don’t you think.   

Ends