KIGALI - The hotel classification exercise and other tourism facilities will cost the government about Rwf 110 million, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) has revealed.
Guidelines for classification of hotels and other hospitality facilities were launched in Kigali on Thursday.

They are meant to align with those of the East African Community (EAC) member states

"The 110 million (Rwf) is the money that we are going to spend in total on the whole exercise of standards and classification which will end in November,” Rossette Rugamba, the RDB deputy CEO in charge of Tourism and Conservation told The New Times yesterday.

"After that, the private sector will have to pay in order to be classified.”

According to an earlier RDB communiqué, the standards will pave way for "promoting EAC as a single tourism destination with reliable quality of services and facilities offered to tourists”.

"Classification is an essential marketing tool for proprietors to identify the segment of clients they are targeting as long as the classification facilitates the proprietor to know what kind of services they are able to provide,” says a portion of the RDB communiqué.

The classification will also provide tourists with information on what to expect from various hotels while hoteliers will know what services, facilities and standards are expected of them.

The number of hotel rooms has increased to 4,225 up from 3,438, last year. Tourism revenues are also projected to hit USD 278m by 2012.

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