The World tourism day celebration was set by the United Nations, celebrated globally as a reminder to the people about the need and importance of sustainable tourism and the potential it has to promote social and economic development and job creation.
According to this year’s theme, “One billion tourists, one billion opportunities,” meaning tourism has the potential to generate more opportunities that benefit the world’s population in significant ways but requires collective effort to protect and preserve it.
The Rwandan government with respect to theme, are investing lots of efforts into diversifying their tourism potential by create more tourism products, including cultural tourism.
Tourism is the major foreign exchange earner in Rwanda and hence the great need for the government to diversify tourism activities offered in destination Rwanda. Mountain gorilla trekking is the highlight of all Rwanda trips, increasing the number of tourism offers would come as a big advantage giving her a bigger competitive advantage over other gorilla destinations.
In bid to increase the quality of a Rwanda tour package, the government has opened the Rulindo Cultural Center along the main road from Kigali to Musanze district. This means if a tourists is traveling to visit gorilla will have a stop to visit this cultural center.
A big thumb up to the Rwandan government for the continuous initiative into a well planned tourism development which is doubling tourists coming from different parts of the world to visit the ‘Land of a thousand hills’ numbers in to the country.
The Rulindo cultural center was opened while celebrating World Tourism Day which was a venue for the days celebrations opened by the Rwanda Development Board’s (RDB) newly-appointed Chief Tourism Officer, Ms. Belise Kariza.
The cultural center is an exhibition of local heritage and traditional Rwandan arts and culture, aligning with the government’s vision to improve tourism product diversification to enhance the sector contribution to the country’s economy.
The government of Rwanda is putting a lot of efforts towards improving and marketing Rwanda as a destination so as to meet her set ambitious targets of an annual tourism receipts of $860 million by the year 2017, up from $305 million earned by the sector in 2014. This target can only be achieved through diversifying tourism products, improving the products available in order to increase on the number of days a clients with stay in Rwanda on safari.
The world tourism day celebration at the center was also a platform for showcasing art pieces, handicrafts, and tourism beneficiaries’ achievements which brought together 50 regular exhibitors. While opening the center, the RDB also used the opportunity to launch Rwanda’s first cultural documentation – a comprehensive 325-page book retracing the unique and rich Rwanda cultural heritage.
The Rulindo Cultural Center is home to historic sites, mining, and farmland, and has become a highly-successful, community-based tourism model. Rulindo Cultural Center is a remarkable showcase and preservation of Rwandan culture and tradition through arts.
