MORE THAN TWO DOZEN HOTELS AWAIT STAR RATING
The Rwanda Development Board Tourism and Conservation, has concluded the first phase of the East Africa wide grading and classifying of hotels, resorts, lodges and other hospitality businesses and today about 30 hotels in Kigali will be awarded their stars at a ceremony held at the Kigali Serena Hotel, itself expecting to reap a full 5 stars of course, arguably being Kigalis finest hotel at present.
The ceremony will also highlight the rationale behind the exercise and tell the story of a country wide roll out to ascertain that visitors to The Land of a Thousand Hills will be assured of quality which will across the East African Community use the same criteria.
Ms. Rica Rwigamba, the Head of Tourism and Conservation within the RDB, has already in advance of the ceremony later today announced that as many as 16 types of establishments would come under the scrutiny of trained assessors before being given the coveted stars, a seal of quality and approval now unfolding across the EAC. Rwanda is second only to Tanzania to commence the exercise in earnest while logistical as well as political issues still need resolving in neighbouring Burundi, Uganda and even Kenya, where the present system of rating will have to give way to the community wide new method, using a jointly developed catalogue of criteria to accomplish one rating system for the entire region.
Miss Rwigamba has quantified the cost of the exercise to this point as approximately 120 million Rwanda Francs, a considerably expense for one of the smaller EAC countries but generally thought well worth it as the country seeks regional leadership through innovation, variety and quality in the tourism and conservation sectors. Well done indeed and advance congratulations to those who will today be confirmed to be on top of their class.
