How is Rwanda attracting so many international conferences? Asks PAULUS KAYIGGWA “Rwanda is now becoming a favourable centre for meetings and conferences in the region,” said Pamela Uruyuki, the sales and marketing manager of Hotel Novetel Umubano. She added that many hotels with conference rooms in the country have been renovated and redecorated to attract more meetings. “The overall impression now is far smarter than one who was in the country ten years ago might expect,” Uruyuki said during an interview in her office. Recently, the East African Community (EAC) heads of state convened in Kigali for the Ninth Summit and Retreat of Heads of State of the EAC, she recalled. “We showed the international community that the country has the capacity of organising and effectively provide standard services to such big conferences,” she said. Uruyuki believes that the prevailing security in the country has also given the international community to think about Rwanda as a conference location. “Security is very crucial when thinking of where to hold your conferences and I think the country is given credit for this issue,” she said. “There has been a long time conflict in northern Uganda and recently Kenya has been experiences political crisis, a situation that meant people considered us for organising their meetings,” Uruyuki explained. Hotel Novotel has four meeting rooms that can accommodate large groups. Each room has internet access“Our meeting rooms have the capacity of accommodating from 30 to 300 people,” she said. In the last few months Novotel has organised 30 local and ten international conferences. Jean Paul Rutagwenda of Alpha Palace Hotel in Remera said the good infrastructure and service system in the country has contributed to this trend. “We have high quality roads, I think they are the best around the region; making movement of guests around the country easy,” he said. “I guess we are far better in providing services that pull people to bring their conference and meetings into the country,” Rutagwenda said. Rutagwenda believes that the country has a significant number of people who are just marvelous with protocol processes and other hospitality services. “When you have such skillful manpower potential in the country that can best communicate, guide and make the visiting team feel at home, you have an edge over the others,” he explained. Rutagwenda further added that the country has a unique language advantage over other countries “We speak two international language; English and French, unlike our counterparts in the region who use only English,” said Rutagwenda. “For cases of translation, the country cannot encounter any problem because it has bi-language and intelligent persons.” Rutagwenda explained that the cost of organising conferences and accommodating people gives generally good value for money. “We are cheap and affordable compared to other competitors not only for international but also for local conferences,” Rutagwenda elaborated. Andre Musoni of Rwanda Investment and Export Promotion Agency (RIEPA) said Rwanda is known in the region to have high quality technology information systems. “So for the purposes of various communications relating to meetings coordination, we are well organised at that,” he said. Most conference rooms in the country have rehearsal rooms for presentations, a slide and digital projectors with a spot assistance from a specialist in all audio-visual equipments required by conference rooms standards, explained Musoni. He further said that the country’s reputation for zero tolerance corruption has given people confidence. “We are being considered simply because we are not corrupt and foreign people who want to have conferences in the region trust Rwanda with their money,” he said. Ensuring good accountability is a good factor for building such trustworthiness among such people, believes the RIEPA representatives. “We don’t inflate charges and we always make sure we provide exactly what was agreed upon during the signing of the conference organising deal,” said Musoni. Ends
