Tours and travel operators laud Kwita Izina for transforming tourism industry

As Rwanda gears up for the 9th baby gorilla naming ceremony, popularly known as ‘Kwita Izina,’ tour operators are optimistic that the event will continue to expose the country to the world, if well promoted.Celebrating and naming of baby gorillas started in 2005 and the annual event has seen more than 140 baby gorillas named.This year’s Kwita Izina will see 12 baby gorillas named in an event slated for June 22, in Kinigi, Musanze District, under the theme, ‘Celebrating Nature, Empowering Communities’.Manzi Kayihura, the president of the Rwanda Tours and Travel Association, said the event has been a major transformer of tourism sector in Rwanda hence facilitating the growth of the tourism industry.“Before it started, tour operators’ business was really small because tourists were few and even the presence of gorillas in Rwanda was known by few people,” he said.Kayihura, who heads Thousand Hills Expeditions, said the gorilla naming ceremony has become a major event on international conservation calendar and there has been an influx of tourists coming to Rwanda to grace the occasion.Without elaborating in detail how their business has grown, Kayihura said the exercise is very crucial to their business.Global attractionThe ceremony that has been graced by international celebrities, conservationists and media personalities has seen Rwanda’s tourism grow to unprecedented levels.Last year, the tourism sector generated $281.8m (Rwf178 billion) compared to $251.3m (Rwf159 billion) the previous year, an increase of 17 per cent, according to 2012 Rwanda Development Board (RDB) figures.Michael Tango, a tourism consultant at Primate Safaris, said tour operators have managed to generate more revenues from the tourists.“We have registered an increase of tourists since 2006 which has also boosted the growth of our business,” he said.Tango, who is also a conservation expert, said they receive about 80 tourists who come to visit gorillas daily.He added: “Between June and October and also January up to February, we are extremely busy with a high number of tourists.”He said before Kwita Izina became a ceremony, there were few tourists coming to Rwanda and from a few countries but now they receive tourists from all over the world, an indication that the ceremony has livened up the tourism industry.“We appreciate what the event has done to our business but we need professional people to join the tourism industry because we want to sell more than just gorillas,” he noted.Rwanda mapped on gorillasRica Rwigamba, the head of tourism and conservation at RDB, said the event has greatly impacted on the growth of the tourism sector.“Rwanda is now known as the country that leads the way in terms of gorilla conservation. The Kwita Izina event aims at celebrating the growth of our gorillas and informing the world how we are conserving them,” she said.“We have seen an increase of tourists and tourism receipts for the last few years following the inauguration of the event in the country. When we started we had few international visitors especially those we invited but this time they invite themselves.”Rwigamba said gorillas contribute about 90 percent of the national parks receipts of $10 million.About the international guests taking part in this year’s Kwita Izina, Rwigamba said that they are expecting Pascal Lamy, the director general of World Trade Organisation, Ramsey Tokunbo Nouah, a Nigerian actor, Nairobi-based Burundian musician Kidumu, actors from Netherlands, and conservationists, among others.

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Tours and travel operators laud Kwita Izina for transforming tourism industry