EXCITING NEW ADDITIONS TO THE KIGALI HOSPITALITY SCENE
(Posted 08th May 2016)
Kigali’s new national convention centre and adjoining hotel, both to be managed by Radisson Blu, Carlson Rezidor’s first 5 star venture in Rwanda, is now according to local sources just weeks away from opening, and by the look of it just in time for some major conferences which will be hosted by the Government of Rwanda.
The 292 suites and rooms large hotel – years overdue for opening which led to the sacking of the main Chinese contractor by the Rwanda government and the appointment last year of a Turkish construction group to complete both hotel and conference centre – will be a much needed addition to the Rwandan hospitality scene. Besides bringing another global brand to the country are the rooms key to promoting MICE business coming to Rwanda, one of the key tourism segments identified as having a very strong growth potential.
Some of the ongoing and upcoming events in Rwanda are shown below in a chart published by the Rwanda Development Board.
| Name of the event | Date |
| Africa Airlines Association | 7th – 9th May 2016 |
| World Economic Forum | 11th-13th May 2016 |
| ID4 Africa Forum | 23rd – 25th May 2016 |
| Metropolitan Lab on strategic planning and management | 24th- 28th May 2016 |
| African Society of Blood Transfusion | 31st May – 04th June 2016 |
| Africa Re 38th Annual Ordinary Meeting of the General Assembly and 40th Anniversary Symposium | 12th – 18th June 2016 |
| Forum for Agriculture Research in Africa(FARA) | 13th-19th June 2016 |
| All Africa ENT and Audiology Conference 2016 | 19th – 22nd June 2016 |
| Africa Carbon Conference | 28th – 30th June 2016 |
| Africa Union Summit | July 2016 (TBC) |
| Africa home coming | 7th – 10th August 2016 |
| Global Foot and Mouth Disease | June-Sept 2016 (TBC) |
| East and Southern Africa Diary Association | 31st Aug-2nd Sept 2016 |
| Kwita Izina (Gorilla Naming Ceremony) | 02nd September 2016 |
| Global Africa Investment Summit | 5th -6th Sept 2016 |
| Apie Expo | 21st -26th September 2016 |
| Africa Hotel Investment Forum | 4th -5th October 2016 |
| Meeting of the Partners to the Montreal Protocol | 10th -14th October 2016 |
| Africa Travel Association | 9th -14th November 2016 |
| All Africa Purpose Driven Leadership Congress | October 2017 |
Meanwhile has, without much fanfare, the Marriott Kigali soft-opened its doors, just a stone throw away from Kigali’s present market leader, the Kigali Serena Hotel. This location will get more crowded when across the road the new Ramada is opening its doors. With 229 rooms and 25 suites and ample conferencing facilities will Kigali’s top bracket hotel capacity grow yet further. Here as was the case with the Radisson, was construction long delayed for a variety of reasons but no doubt all is well what ends well.
