To promote the tourism industry in Rwanda, the country has a signed a 3 year deal of partnering with the English premier league team, Arsenal as the official tourism partner.
Rwanda is a very small country growing steadily from the horrific 1994 experience where it lost thousands of people. The three-year partnership with arsenal will feature a logo ‘Visit Rwanda’ on the left sleeve of all first team, under-23 and Arsenal Women’s matches from the new season this August 2018.
This marketing campaign will see both Rwanda and Arsenal football club focus on marketing efforts in regard to advertising the brand visit Rwanda through promotional activities in media in terms of printing marketing materials, running TV adverts, as well as in flight service. The campaign is also a prospect inviting potential investors to the beautiful country of a thousand hills.
It is expected that this will boost the number of tourist arrivals to Rwanda and also is forecasted to increase direct contribution to GDP from USD 463million (5.2%) in 2017 to USD 885 million (5.7%) in 2018.
Rwanda is a high end tourism destination since it doubled the cost of gorilla permit from 750$ to 1500$ at the beginning of the year 2017.it is among the three countries among Uganda, Congo that you can visit for Gorilla tracking.
This strategy will highlight Rwanda’s major tourist attractions such as;
Volcanoes national park of the virunga massif in musanze district, this park is a one stop destination for the famous mountain gorillas, about 30% population of the remaining mountain gorillas are hosted in the interspersed bamboo of volcanoes. Every year the country carries out the ceremony commonly known as “kwita izina” naming baby gorillas that has shown steady growth in gorilla tourism and increase in the number of gorillas as gorilla trekking is the highlight activity. Volcanoes national park hosts other primates like golden monkeys. The park also features calderas such Karisimbi volcanoes and Bisoke volcanoes for hiking activities as well as karisoke research center where dian fossey the first American conservationist decated her life in studying the life of gorillas as well as conserving them.
Akagera national park in the north east of Rwanda attracts a record number of tourists due to growing numbers of wildlife including black rhino, zebra, the handsome chestnut-coated impala, the Eland, the tiny oribi, lions, and the topi among others. The boat trips on Lake Ihema in akagera boarding Tanzania gives you’re a close opportunity to view hippos, herd of buffalos and antelopes on the banks for the lake including several water birds like the rare shoe bill stork, African fish eagles, crowned cranes, open-billed stork, marabou stork, cormorants, herons and egrets.
Nyungwe national park national park is diverse green afro montane rich ecosystem. The forest canopy is home to our little cousins, chimpanzees, other primates include black-and-white colobus, l’hoest monkeys, grey cheeked mangabeys, and owl faced monkeys. It’s also a birder’s paradise with over 300 species, including 16 endemics, and is home to 75 different species of mammal. The tropical forest includes several activities ranging from Hiking , biking the beautiful terrain, tracking the famous chimpanzees, experiencing the canopy walk, witnessing beautiful birds, relaxing by waterfalls are just a glimpse of activities that Nyungwe offers.
Other than the national parks, Kigali city the capital of Rwanda is one of the cleanest cities in East Africa. Rwanda is a safe country with world-class infrastructure like roads, premium and high end accommodations, substantial investment of telecom companies, a new Bugesera international airport south of Rwanda is under construction to boost the economy of the country. Also areas such as Lake Kivu with its major towns of Gisenyi, Cyangugu and Kibuye are towns not to be left without exploring.
Visitors can also engage in cycling, kayaking and birding as well as exploring Rwanda’s culture heritage at Nyanza and Huye, and then also visit the memorial genocide sites of Murambi, Ntarama, Nyamata and Kigali Genocide Memorial Center among others.