CONSTRUCTION Workson what promises to be the country’s leading eco-cultural tourism hub on Rebero Hill in Kicukiro District in the City of Kigali have reached advanced stages with officials saying that the first phase of the state-of-the-art facility will be completed in the current fiscal year. Once completed, the Kigali Cultural Village (KCV) is expected to serve as a one-stop-centre for the country’s eco-cultural tourism, a move that’s expected to add to other ongoing efforts to position our rich cultural heritage as a major tourism attraction. Considering the package that the facility will be providing to visitors – locals and foreigners alike – KCV will without doubt raise Kigali’s profile as a tourist destination and help tourists stay longer. This will impact on the country’s tourism receipts, critical for economic growth. Equally, the facility will play a key role in preserving the country’s culture and traditions as young urbanites will now have a place to go to and learn more about their country’s heritage and how best they can help safeguard it. Officials at the Rwanda Development Board, which is behind this multi-million dollar project, have invited the private sector to join in this effort under the framework of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). Looking at how PPPs have increasingly become an efficient investment vehicle in other sectors of the economy it is high time businesses started putting their money into cultural tourism and other forms of tourism. With the country’s status as a preferred international conference destination and the number of tourists growing by the day eco-tourism presents the private sector an immense opportunity to invest their money with assurances for a good return on investment.
