All not gloomy for Rwanda’s tourism industry

Analysts have predicted that this year the global financial crisis will have a heavy impact on tourism earnings worldwide, in that countries which heavily depend on tourism revenues will have to seek other means to keep their coffers stuffed or risk major deficits in their budgets. A study by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNAWTO) has already revealed that Global tourism is already feeling the pinch, slowing down in the first half of 2009 and there is a warning that the industry could suffer a sharper downturn in the months ahead. UNWTO says consumer demand is falling in both the business and leisure tourism sectors. The agency expects that tourism could be hit even harder over the remaining months of the year as it happened in the 1st half of 2009, as the slowdown filters through the global economy. It is said that tourists have now tightened the strings on their purses and are only willing to loosen them only in those destinations which offer the best of the best. Countries labelled as ‘top destinations’ like Thailand, Dubai, France among others, continue to take the biggest share of world tourists. African countries have continued to suffer as tourists now consider shorter and strategic destinations with direct flights, not distant tropical destinations in Africa with costly indirect flights. All is not gloomy though for Rwanda. Prospects are still high that Rwanda’s tourism industry will withstand the shocks from the global downturn to resiliently maintain its status and pace as the leading foreign exchange earner. Earlier this month, the Rwanda Development Board Deputy CEO, Rosette Chantal Rwigamba, the person charged with the task of oiling the tourism machinery in Rwanda, maintained that there is hope that the effect won’t be as devastating as anticipated, if we were to judge by the picture projected in the 1st quarter (Jan-March) of 2009. 120,809 international visitors arrived in Rwanda and this number is expected to grow by hundreds in the 2nd quarter due to the boost from the 5th Kwita Izina Edition. Indeed the results from the 1st quarter of 2009 reflect a 27% increase compared to the same period in 2008, where only 95,000 were recorded. Visitors in the 1st quarter of 2009 left behind an estimated US $24m compared to the $22m left behind in 2008, an 11% increase. Statistics from RDB/Tourism and Conservation also show an increment of about 50% of leisure visitors compared to 2008; business visitors grew by 26% while transit visitors grew by 19%. This year’s Gorilla naming ceremony was proof that Rwanda’s tourism industry is still ‘budding’ despite the global financial demise. It was my first Kwita Izina and I would be lying not to tell you that I was disappointed, a few days before the naming, when I learnt that the naming is symbolic and baby gorillas don’t actually turn up to be christened. After shoving through the huge crowd, I accessed the exclusive area where a hundred-and so foreign tourists were anxiously seated on the grass and huge cameras and microphones mounted by a multitude of foreign journalists were, waiting for the naming ceremony to commence. I asked one of them why she had to travel thousands of miles to come and see ‘dummy’ gorillas being named when she could have chosen to go to the sandy beaches of Seychelles to bask in the sun while sipping a cocktail out of the coconut shell. “It takes a hero to weave through that forest covering up there, just to save the gorillas. I and my parents always travel here every year to track the Gorillas, and I must say it’s quite amazing. I know many other people back in the US who will do anything to come and see the Gorillas” said 23-year old, Cathy Reeves.Cathy’s story is an example of how Rwanda’s tourism industry has continued to thrive amidst the Global financial crisis. According to Rugamba, the plan now is to diversify and shift from Gorilla Tourism by aggressively marketing other lucrative tourist areas like Nyungwe and Akagera to keep the industry afloat. kagire_eddie@yahoo.com