Destination Rwanda

The rapid growth of Rwanda’s tourism sector stands as a major sector transformation success story. From a standing start in the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, the sector has grown to become one of the country’s largest exports, contributing 10% of GDP and creating over 300,000 direct jobs.  

Beyond its immediate economic contribution, the tourism sector has also played a pivotal role in Rwanda’s broader transformation. Firstly, with the growth of high-end eco-tourism and later conference tourism, the sector was instrumental in shifting global perceptions of the country after the genocide. This rebranding helped to unlock investment in the economy at large.  

Secondly, the sector is anchored to Rwanda’s national development vision. Starting with Vision 2020, launched in 2000, the government set out ambitions of Rwanda becoming a regional services hub. The hub model was designed to offer a pathway to prosperity that leveraged Rwanda’s strengths and sidestepped the constraints of being a small, landlocked nation.  

The tourism sector was one of the first to bring the hub strategy to life. The growth of tourism went hand in hand with the expansion of a national airline, enabling strong regional connectivity – a critical success factor for the hub strategy. The tourism sector also catalysed investments in infrastructure and capabilities that have enabled the development other potential hub sectors, such as education and finance.  

More generally, tourism has strong linkages across the economy – including to transport, construction, hospitality, entertainment, and retail. This makes it a key driver of inclusive growth and job creation.  

While the factors that drove tourism’s growth may be specific to the Rwandan context, broader lessons can be drawn about the principles of kickstarting and growing new sectors.  

Government Vision and Commitment  

The most critical factor underpinning the transformation of Rwanda’s tourism sector has been the clarity of the government’s vision and strength of its commitment – a commitment sustained over time due to the sector’s alignment to political goals and a national development vision.  

Rwanda’s first tourism strategy, approved in 2002, set out a sector vision based on high-end tourism, focussing on Rwanda’s unique attraction: the mountain gorillas. Rapid growth of gorilla tourism was enabled by coordinated public interventions in park management, conservation, infrastructure, promotion, and training.  

These efforts were strongly anchored with the private sector through a tourism working group, comprising hotels, tour operators, guides and training providers alongside key government agencies, which tackled problems as they arose.   

In 2009, to avoid over-reliance on gorilla tourism, the government developed plans to diversify its tourism offering and drive further growth. Most successfully, the government selected the meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) sub-sector – after analysis revealed its growth potential and ability to leverage investments already made to support eco-tourism.  

A clear roadmap and sustained government commitment to the MICE sector have paid off. Kigali is now the second most popular destination for meetings in Africa. The country has hosted high-profile events including the World Economic Forum, the African Union Summit and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.  

Rwanda’s revenues from MICE surged, growing from $15 million in 2008 to $132 million in 2019. Key factors behind the government’s successful facilitation of the sector included aligning public investments and implementing effective coordination mechanisms. Of all the public investments geared towards establishing Rwanda as a MICE hub, most significant was the flagship 5000-capacity Kigali Convention Centre, completed in 2016 at a cost of over $300 million.  

Government coordination has involved the clear division of roles between Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and the Rwanda Convention Bureau (RCB) – a dedicated entity set up to market and organise the MICE sector. RDB leads on branding Rwanda and attracting investment, allowing RCB to focus on tactically bidding for and executing MICE events.  

Immigration policy has also helped to maximize the return on investments in hard infrastructure. Since 2018, Rwanda has offered visa-on-arrival to nationals of all countries.  

Private Sector Collaboration  

Strategic collaboration with the private sector has been central to attracting investment into the tourism sector and fostering upgrades to enhance its competitiveness. As early as 2002, the government invested public funds to construct Rwanda’s first five-star hotel, leveraging it as a ‘demonstration effect’ for global investors. Led by promotion efforts of the RDB, the government then attracted leading hotel brands such as Marriott, Radisson and Sheraton to come to Rwanda.  

A key area of collaboration between public and private sectors has been in skills. At the outset of sector development, skills shortages were identified as a major bottleneck to growth. Early on, regular surveys captured feedback on the poor-quality service that visitors experienced, so that both private operators and government knew the extent of the problems. The working group enabled dialogue between government and operators to agree on and implement interventions through the “Welcome Rwanda” campaign, which grew into the “Na Yombi” campaign.  

Future Outlook  

Over the past 20 years, tourism has enjoyed robust growth to emerge as a major part of Rwanda’s economy. From 2009 to 2019, Rwanda’s number of foreign visitors more than doubled, from 663,000 to 1.6 million per year. Post-pandemic, visitor numbers rebounded to 1.4 million in 2023.  

Analysts estimate that the sector will grow to contribute $1.8 billion to the economy and 400,000 jobs by 2028. Employment in the sector is also relatively inclusive – with a much larger share of formal jobs and female workers than the economy overall.  

The sector is also becoming increasingly diversified – with new nature based and sports tourism products being developed alongside robust business tourism growth.  

The sector’s transformation has been driven by strength of government vision and commitment, as well as by private investors who recognised these strengths and bought into the vision for Rwanda’s future. While challenges remain in sustaining inclusive growth, Rwanda’s tourism sector has many of the building blocks in place to be a key driver of the country’s ongoing economic transformation.