Rwanda is shaping up as one of East Africa’s premier business tourism destinations, following efforts by the government and its partners to help strengthen and grow the private sector in the meetings market, a recent article in The Independent argues.
Having climbed from 7th to 3rd in the International Congress and Convention Associations’ (ICCA’s) 2016 latest ranking of business tourism in Africa, Rwanda is obviously becoming a destination of choice for association planners.
The east African country invested in a brand new state of the art convention centre adjoining the Radisson Blu Hotel in Kigali, Marriott Hotel Kigali with major meeting spaces available in the hotel plus added new hotels. as does the investment in the national airline RwandAir, which is now serving 21 destinations in Africa, the Middle East and India while adding London at the end of May to their network too.
Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, boasts an international events under its belt, including high-level forums such as the World Economic Forum on Africa in May 2016, 27th African Union Summit in July 2016, the Global African Investment Summit in September 2016, Africa Hotel Investment Forum in October 2016 and the 28th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in October 2016.
According to the latest biennial Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Rwanda is ranked the ninth safest country globally for tourists.