Government is trying to diversify its tourism potentials by relaunching cultural tourism.

Cultural tourism is a visit to places, viewing artefacts and watching activities that represent the stories and people.

Joseph Habineza, the Sports, Youth and Culture minister said Rwanda has the market for cultural tourists but needs to add value.

 "With cultural tourism we have arts, the museum, dance and drama and nice food for our tourists,” he said.

He was addressing a workshop called to map out strategies of promoting cultural tourism at Novotel Hotel in Kigali yesterday.

There was general concern that Rwanda’s tourism industry is not fully exploited and that there is need to discover more products and services to supplement gorilla tourism in the country.

If all goes as planned, the country projects to earn $31m—about Frw17 billion from cultural tourism by 2010.  

Omwami’s palace in Nyanza, local crafts and the Batwa animist communities are some of the sites to be marketed.
Others include Gisenyi where Ross Carr’s orphanage is found and the Genocide memorials sites found in Butare, Ruhengeri and Kigali. 

However the vice president tourism chambers Elise Milenge said limited access to information has delayed tapping resources from cultural tourism.

But the Government is addressing the concern.
"Rwanda is now creating a data base so that information can easily be accessed,” she said,  adding that every tourist will be able to immediately access the brochures about the country’s potential at the airport.

Rob Henning of OTF group also urged all players in the tourism business including government to realise the value of marketing tourism.

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