Following a multi-day visit to the Kingdom of Jordan in June, Rwandan officials say they have picked good lessons for improving the country’s faith-based tourism products. Just like Rwanda, Jordan is heavily reliant on tourism, deriving over 14 percent of its GDP from the sector. The Middle Eastern country’s key attractions include religious sites such as Jesus' baptism site, Mount Nebo where Prophet Moses died, as well as various locations significant to Muslim believers. ALSO READ: Jordan ‘ready to share devt strategies’ with Rwanda Speaking to The New Times after the visit, Rwanda Development Board (RDB)’s Chief Tourism Officer, Michaella Rugwizangoga, highlighted Jordan's effective utilisation of its faith-based tourism sites as a model Rwanda can learn from to improve its own. Citing the example of Kibeho, a place which according to a previous study has the potential of attracting up to a million tourists annually, Rugwizangoga, stressed the importance of not only packaging such attractions better, but also developing supporting infrastructure around them such as hotels, restaurants and shops. “Faith leaders who were with us on the trip said visiting Jordan was an eye opener that we have a lot of attractions in Rwanda but haven’t been looking at them in a touristic perspective. Now we need to think about how to package them, build hotels, restaurants around them and have a better holistic experience for the visitors,” she noted. ALSO READ: Visiting Petra, one of the seven wonders of the world Among other places with potential of bringing in faith-based tourists to Rwanda is Gahini, an area where the East African Revival began from. Clerics from Gahini were also part of the team that travelled to Jordan. The visit to Jordan also involved medical practitioners, educators, media, as well as tours and travel operators. It was a follow up to the visit made by King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein to Rwanda in January and one later made by the country’s Minister of Tourism Makram Mustafa Queisi in February. Rwanda is the only African country that the Jordanian king has visited so far, and the Rwandan delegation that visited the middle-east country in June is so far the second largest to have visited it. ALSO READ: Visiting Jesus’ baptism site During the visit, besides holding discussions on policy level by government officials, Rwandan businesses held talks with their Jordanian counterparts regarding how to work together, in various fields including tourism and health. Rugwizangoga anticipates strengthened ties between both countries' tourism sectors, fostering exchanges of tourists, as well as sharing knowledge, particularly in fields like healthcare and education in which Jordan boasts big advancements.
