(Interview) WTO boss: Rwanda is an important tourism destination

The Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, Taleb Rifai, was among the dignitaries that attended the ninth edition of the Kwita Izina. He also held meetings with President Kagame and officials from Rwanda Development Board. The New Times’ Senior Reporter Edwin Musoni interviewed him and below are the excerpts.TNT: What brings you to Rwanda and what has been your general impression about the country?TR: I did not come here by accident; of course I came here by the kind invitation to the gorilla naming event. But my main purpose of the visit is to send the message to the world on how prepared, how ready and determined Rwanda is when it comes to travel and tourism. We have a feeling, and this feeling is substantiated by the performance, by the calibre of the people that are running this tourism sector in Rwanda and by the impressions of the international community, that Rwanda is a star in the making in the field of travel and tourism.Rwanda is doing all the right things in the right direction and it has all the assets to enable it to do so. So my visit here is of important political and symbolic significance; it is telling the world that this is an important tourism destination and of course on top of that I had the pleasure to attend the gorilla naming ceremony.TNT: Besides your work responsibilities, what has been your personal experience during your stay in Rwanda?TR: It can be summarised in one thing – the next possible opportunity, I am going to bring my wife and children to Rwanda – if I get a chance of a vacation I will spend it here in Rwanda. That can sum up all my feeling about this country. I can go to any place I want in the world but I want to come to Rwanda.TNT: Back to your work, what has been UNWTO’s role in making Rwanda what it is today as you described it earlier?TR: We started our relations with Rwanda more than 10 years ago. We have helped in developing the master plan for tourism in 2007 and 2008, and we have continued to monitor its potential implementation.With the new leadership at the tourism helm we are even more enthusiastic about the possibilities of this being implemented. I had two meetings with the CEO of RDB Claire Akamanzi and Head of Tourism and Conservation, Rica Rwigamba and I also had the pleasure of meeting with the Minister of Trade and Industry [Francois Kanimba] who is in charge of tourism. In all these meeting, it was very clear that we have a lot that we can do here in Rwanda in terms of popularising their policies, assisting Rwanda in going step by step in implementing its master plan, having Rwanda become a model and an example of sustainable criteria implementation, responsible tourism, conservation of the environment and culture.Other practical issues that we discussed and we think we can help Rwanda are related to accessibility and ease of access to the country by airlines using Rwandan airports more often and by discussing the possible progress that Rwanda has made and will continue to make on the visa entry formalities. All these issues that range from principle to practical were discussed in my meeting with these officials.TNT: You have a lot to offer to Rwanda but what is it that Rwanda needs to do to improve on it’s current performance?TR: Rwanda should keep doing what it’s doing. The most important reason for the success of any country in tourism is the political will. The very fact that I would be meeting with the President of Rwanda is an important signal how serious Rwanda considers tourism. (Ed. Rifai met the President yesterday) The President does not meet people without a reason, and the reason here is that there is great interest in the travel and tourism industry and what it can do for Rwanda. This is the main thing, the rest are details. If you have the political will and determination everything else becomes a matter of when to do that.TNT: What do you think Rwanda should do to become a global leader in tourism destinations?TR: The three classical requirements still need to be achieved in a better capacity. The first one is to develop the products like infrastructure, attractions and that is already in the making but we need to see the results of it.The second one is to promote those products, you need to engage in more promotional campaigns, be present on the international scene and on the regional scene.The third one is to build your human capacity. We call them the 3Ps, Product, Promotion and People and Rwanda is aware of all the three, the country is just on the way to achieve better results.TNT: In your opinion, do you think Rwanda’s history, mainly the Genocide, could possibly impact negatively on the flow of tourists?TR: On Friday I visited the Genocide Memorial site, and I got out with two strong feelings; one is the feeling of sadness and the gravity of what happened. But equally I got out of the memorial with a feeling of respect and admiration to a nation that had the courage to admit to all of this and moved to the process of healing and that’s exactly what the world wants to hear and see.Every nation under the sun made mistakes and had dark chapters in its life. Rwanda is not an exception and that is what we saw at the memorial, many grave mistakes and many dark chapters were made. The world will judge you on how you face such tragedies and how you move on beyond it.It is time for Rwanda to look at a brighter and fresh future. The attitude of thinking that the world thinks differently about Rwanda is not a good attitude because it does not exist. Rwanda needs to move on and project its real face to the world which is courage, determination and a bright future.TNT: What are your kind words to the Rwandan people that have made the country what it is today?TR: Tourism in particular is a people’s economy, it’s a sector that is made by people and its success is made by people. Many countries in the world have very beautiful assets, the mountains, the beaches and forests, nobody is better than the other but what makes a difference is not what you have but what you do with what you have.What you do with what you have is dependent on the people and the people of Rwanda are determined. I felt it, the people want to succeed, they want to make a difference in their lives and they will achieve itThe smiles, the attitude, the professionalism that I saw here is very distinguished.

National

(Interview) WTO boss: Rwanda is an important tourism destination