Rwanda has once again been in the global spotlight this week after it scooped another prestigious award at the on-going World Travel Market exhibition in London. The Rwandan stand beat competition from other 600 exhibitors.

This outstanding performance coordinated by tourism officials of our country once again raises the tourism bar high.

But most important, this performance serves as a wake-up call to the numerous service providers to raise to the occasion and meet expectations of visitors that flock to this country.

With this kind of award coming from a nation which is ranked second in the numbers of tourists visiting this country, it can only be expected that these numbers will grow soon.

Therefore, this award comes with new demands --- that our hospitality industry must work hard to meet world class standards.

Good enough, there have been numerous reforms undertaken to improve this sector, including the campaign to increase the numbers of hotel rooms and aligning Rwanda’s hotel standards to those in the East African Community.

While these national guided reforms continue, the most pressing issue is a quick shift in attitude from key players within our hospitality industry, who must embrace the important doctrines of good customer care practices.

With this pool of tourists expected within the coming years, especially after Lonely Planet, a world leading tourist guidebook named Rwanda the tourism destination for the year 2009, surely the expectations grow each day and good customer care practices must define this industry.

It is important that strategies like the nationwide customer care campaigns currently on-going yield results in the shortest period possible.

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