In the bid to avoid being over reliant on gorillas for tourism, there has been efforts to diversify the tourism industry to avoid dependence on a single attraction.
It is against this background, that a there is a proposal of a Cultural Tourism Village in Kigali spearheaded by the City of Kigali, Ministry of Trade and the Rwanda Development Board (RDB).
According to the Proposal, the Kigali Cultural Tourism Center will be built in Rebero City Suburb.
The Minister of Trade and Industry Francois Kanimba emphasises the importance of cultural tourism which he referred to as a critical component to Rwanda’s tourism product diversification agenda which has the potential improve the annual foreign revenues generated by tourism.
The Head of Tourism in RDB, Rica Rwigamba says that foundations to support cultural tourism are being developed.
“Rwanda has a rich cultural heritage and investments are being made to ensure the necessary infrastructure and the development of clusters, especially in strengthening the creative industries which include handicrafts, dance and music,” says Rwigamba.
She further notes that, for Rwanda to overcome the single attraction challenge and to sustain its tourism growth momentum, more efforts are required to diversify product offerings.
“This is crucial in order to leverage other avenues where the country is well positioned to compete and to significantly augment its tourism receipts. One of these avenues is cultural tourism.”
