All hotels in the country are to be classified according to their accommodation capacities and services offered, said Vincent Karega, the state minister in charge of industry and investment promotion. In an interview at the Novotel Hotel, Kigali, Karega said that this will give clear, detailed guidelines to tourists intending to visit Rwanda about the accommodation. The minister said that the classification will be done according to international standards but that they are yet to employ a company to complete the exercise. “The hotel classes we have now are not based on international standards but rather on theoretical reports by the hotels themselves,” he said. “A UK company, Triple A and Aljazeera from Arab Emirates have so far been contacted. A Swiss company is also to be contacted,” Karega said. According to Francis Gatare, the director general of Rwanda Investment and Export Promotion Authority, classifications will attract investors since it will expose the missing services in the hotels. He said that the standardization of hotels will also promote the service industry of this country as hotels will compete for higher standards. John Bosco Kalisa, director of regional integration trade in the Private Sector Federation (PSF), which is the umbrella of private business enterprises that include hotels, said “the new classifications are in line with PSF’s advocacy for an improved business environment.”Ends
