New hope for tourism in Rwanda as airports reopen to travelers
The reopening of Rwanda’s airports to travelers has been greeted with huge hope and excitement by the stakeholders of the country’s tourism sector. The industry has been badly hit by the closure of airports which meant no tourists coming into the country and therefore no revenue.
In march Rwanda declared a nation-wide lockdown which included the closure of airports and borders in a bid to country the spread of Covid-19 in the country. Since then, the tourism sector has suffered heavily given that it heavily relies on revenue brought in by foreign tourists who come mostly for wildlife safaris like gorilla trekking and game viewing in the country’s national parks.
Earlier in June, the country had allowed visitors and tourists travelling by charter flights to enter the country while general flights for all passengers were officially opened on Saturday 1 August. During lockdown, only cargo and emergency flights were permitted at the airports.
The official reopening of passenger flights has caused some excitement and optimism among key players in Rwanda’s tourism industry including tour operators, hotels, and other beneficiaries of the sector. They are hopeful that the reopening will encourage foreign tourists to visit the country which help to pump some revenue back in the sector and lead to its revamp.
Rwanda Air, the country’s national flag carrier, currently flies to 29 destinations across 24 countries throughout Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East though the pandemic brought all these flights to a pause. On Saturday the national carrier resumed with a flight to Dubai while Kigali International Airport welcomed flights from Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airways.
All travelers will be required to adhere to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health to ensure the safety of all passengers.
According to RwandAir, the airline has been greatly impacted by the pandemic and in April it had resolved to reduce employees’ salaries in order to reduce expenditure. Flights will be restarted with selected African routes to countries that have eased travel restrictions and opened borders while there will be one long-haul route to Dubai for the meantime as other routes gradually resume.
Airline authorities say that the company will ensure social distancing measures are observed while on board, deep cleaning of the aircrafts after each flight. Other policies to be enforced include allowing every passenger to take one piece of cabin luggage on board to avoid congestion and reduce physical contacts between passengers and luggage.
At Kigali International Airport, several precautionary measures have also been implemented to maintain the health and safety of both staff and customers. Other measures include using protective Plexiglas at check-in and immigration counters, social distancing markers, thermal and temperature screening, and sanitization to promote compliance with international standards set by relevant authorities. Government guidelines require all travelers coming to Rwanda to test negative of Covid-19 within 72 hours before departure and receive a second test upon arrival into the country. There are 17 hotels that have been designated by the government for travelers to stay while waiting for the results of their test.
However, not all tour operators have high expectations from the reopening of the airports with some being cautious that the move may not necessarily lead to improvement in business. They claim that even after the airports were reopened, bookings remain dismal and tourists may take a bit longer to come to the country.
Away from reopening the airports, Rwanda’s borders remain closed except for goods and cargo as well as Rwandans returning citizens and legal residents.
A bigger percentage of Rwanda’s tourism revenue comes from gorillas safaris paid by tourists who come to the country to trek the endangered mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park. Other popular tourist activities in Rwanda include chimpanzee tracking in Nyungwe Forest National Park, game viewing safaris in Akagera National Park, cultural and historical tours including visiting some genocide memorials in the capital Kigali.
