AFTER a three weekscourse, 46 tour guides who participated say that they feel more confertable and knolegable to offer tourists better services.

William Bahati, a tour guide with New Dawn associate said that the course  equiped him with professional basics.
"Now I can pass on exact and complete information about the country to tourists,” he said.

At function organised to award participants, the Minister of Trade and Industry Monique Nsanzabaganwa   pledged more trainings.

"The vision we have in tourism is big and Rwanda Development Board (RDB) should increase more funding for training. We shall continue to offer more trainings,” she said.

The Minister also stated that this was a step forward in improving customer care within the tourism industry which is one of Rwanda’s top foreign exchange revenue earners.

"Training these tour guides means that you are taking customer care seriously because it means money,” she said.

Of the 46 tour guides who were trained by Rwanda Training for Tour Guides (RTTA), six were ladies.

Manzi Kayihura, the president of tour operators in the country commended RTTA and Rwanda Tourism University that facilitated the training, saying that tour guides were "a vital link to tourism.”

Emmanuel Warebe, the Director of Tourism and Conservation in RDB stated that the certification was a step forward to the tourism sector and recounted the major transformations within the sector since the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi.

"I remember the time when we would work on behalf of the immigration department and go to the border to clear tourists,” said Warebe.

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