Drives by RDB (the Rwanda Development Board)
aimed at attracting more tourists to Rwanda are starting to bear more
fruits, with the country's earnings from tourism growing by 4 per cent
last year. Tourists numbers were also up by 6 per cent during the year.
According to new figures from RDB, Rwanda raked in $293.6m (about
Rwf196.7b) from tourism, up from $281.8m (about Rwf188.8b) generated in
2012. Tourists numbers were 1,137,000 visitors in 2013 compared to
around 1,076,000 in 2012, which represents an increase of 61,000
visitors over the year.
Most of the tourists were mainly from the US, the UK and Germany,
according to RDB statistics. The development body noted that the three
national parks in Rwanda, Nyungwe, Akagera and Volcanoes National Parks
sold 61,764 tourist activities last year compared to 61,304 the previous
year.
Some of the popular tourism attractions over the year included guided
nature trails, birding, canopy adventure, tropical water falls,
chimpanzee and mountain gorillas trekking, camping, Congo Nile hike,
golden monkeys, Dian Fossey tomb, hiking on Bisoke and Karisimbi
mountain peaks, game drives, fishing and boat cruises.
The earnings ($293.6m), mean that tourism is still Rwanda's largest
foreign exchange earner. Other top foreign exchange earners are tea,
coffee and minerals.
The country's tourism receipts are projected to get better, thanks to
product diversification and expected benefits presented by the
tripartite single tourist visa. The $100 (about Rwf69,000) visa gives
tourists a seamless opportunity to visit Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.
Previously, tourists who wanted to visit the three countries would part with about $130 in entry visa fees.
Rica Rwigamba, the head of the tourism department at the Rwanda
Development Board, revealed yesterday that RDB would launch an
information bureau this month, where information on conference,
accommodation and restaurant facilities, as well as airlines flying in
and out of the country, would be accessed to market Rwanda's potential
as a conference hub.
This is hoped will further increase the country's tourism revenues and visitors' number in the coming years.
SOURCE
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