Rwanda for over years it has been ranked to be a small and city in East Africa. Today, with the developing world technologies the city authorities have attracted so many international chain hotels to come and develop within the city and from this opportunity now the city not only smart but very ready to host the international conferences.
With so many benefits to host such international conferences the country is now on international level of setting. Therefore, you host an international big events participants have got a chance to take gorilla safaris at so discounted quote, a permit cost $1,275 $US but the normal price is 1,500 $ US. Therefore, during the closing session of the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) Global Summit in Riyadh, the Rwandan capital of Kigali, was announced as the host city for 2023, marking the first time the event could visit Africa. Being the home of the International Gorilla Conservation Programme, it showcased the power of sustainable tourism to protect biodiversity and create thriving communities.
This global tourism body’s Global Summit welcomed speakers such as former UK Prime Minister Theresa May, former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, and actor, filmmaker, and Golden Globe winner, Edward Norton.
More than 250 media delegates from around the world attended the event, with many thousands of people around the world watching remotely. During the event, WTTC and the Ministry of Tourism of the Kingdom Saudi Arabia launched the Environmental & Social Research and it will be the next destination for the summit.
For two days, delegates from over 45 countries gathered to discuss priorities for the global travel and tourism sector and how we can work together to promote sustainable travel that preserves our environment and biodiversity.
It was a 3-day event held in Kigali, Rwanda from 1st to 3rd November. The summit attracted many delegates and experts in travel and tourism, and people from over 45 countries to Rwanda to craft a new vision on how the sector should become sustainable. Rwanda became to first African country to host this global summit.
The summit also featured informational and educational seminars with keynote speakers shading light on a wide range of topics. As a host country, Rwanda is to benefit from WTTC several sustainable initiatives to ensure that Travel & Tourism benefits people/businesses, as well as nature & the environment.
Rwanda expressed her interest to join the initiative and has been developing its own carbon emissions trading and readiness scheme. According to the Clean Development Mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Rwanda received about 2.25 million carbon credits which could unleash an estimated annual $82 billion in value, at $120 per tonne of carbon emissions, as well as create 167 million additional jobs.
Moving towards a sustainable future, Rwanda is also reducing the single use plastic products, one of the initiatives of the WTTC. Single Use Plastics were banned in 2008 as a bid to protect the environment. Additionally, in an effort to foster a sense of environmental responsibility among its people, the government implemented the Umuganda Community Initiative, which involves all Rwandans cleaning their villages on the last Saturday of each month. According to the Observer Research Foundation, Kigali capital city is the cleanest city in Africa.
In respect to conservation, Rwanda opened Gishwati Mukura National Park which became the fourth national park in the country. The country also celebrated the 18th edition of Kwita Izina Gorilla Naming Ceremony, in which 21 gorilla babies were named in Volcanoes National Park. The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and the ‘Gorilla Gram’, a new innovative use of Instagram to protect and conserve gorillas and promote ecotourism, were inaugurated.
The global summit was intentionally hosted in Rwanda to recognize the positive impact the travel and tourism industry has had in Africa for the past 3 decades. Despite the impacts of Covid-19, the sector has continued to recover from transforming the livelihoods to fostering local economic development to enhancing human health and biodiversity conservation.
For a country rising from the ashes to host such a high-level summit and conference is an important milestone in the development of the country since her darkest days. Over 800,000 people lost their lives and 2 million fled the country to escape danger during the Rwandan 1994 genocide against Tutsi.
Make sure to visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial to learn about the historical Rwandan Civil War. The Rwandan economy after the war declined with the service and industry sectors basically becoming almost non-functioning. The country was one of the worst in the world to do business.
Rwanda also has an efficient information and technology system to educate citizens and improve access to basic services. She has also integrated wildlife conservation and environment protection into the national development plan. Through the Environmental Protection Agenda, Rwanda intends to become a climate resilient and carbon-neutral economy by 2050. All these plans align with the WTTC global theme “Building Bridges to a Sustainable Future.”
Some of the vigorous investments in the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE) tourism sector include the state-of-the-art infrastructure such as Kigali Convention Centre which accommodates over 5,600 people along with conference arena and auditorium and internationally recognized hotel brands such as Marriott, Radisson Blu and Park Inn by Radisson.
Kigali Central Business District now has a capacity of 10,000 guest rooms which has positioned her to host high level summits like this Global Summit among others such as World Economic Forum. And there are plans to double that capacity by 2025 with some hotels implementing technology to recycle water.
Rwanda is a nation transformed in many aspects including good governance under His Excellency President Paul Kagame that has promoted oneness and attracted investments over the past 3 decades.