Rwanda took its top travel and tourism attractions to China in the hopes of tapping in to the lucrative Chinese tourism market.
Representatives from Rwanda attended The China Outbound Travel and Tourism Market, a leading travel trade show and tourism fair that attracts over 4300 people.
The Rwanda Development Board, Rwanda Embassy in China, Rwandan tour operators, Rwanda Mountain Tea and RwandAir all took part in the event.
According to Rwanda’s ambassador to China, Charles Kayonga, the fair is an opportunity for Rwanda to showcase its attractions.
“It’s a great opportunity for Rwanda to participate in China’s leading travel show,” Kayonga said. “It presents a good opportunity to tap into a fast-growing market of tourists. Chinese tourists are also the world’s biggest spenders having overtaken Germans and Americans in 2012,” he added.
The envoy also noted that Chinese tourism has been growing every year since 2006, by an average of 13 percent, according to statistics from the Chinese tourism academy.
There were more than 122 million Chinese outbound trips in 2016, an increase of 4.3 per cent compared to the previous year.
Mara Zhou, the co-founder of BoBu Africa, expressed optimism that they are looking forward to working with RDB to promote Rwanda’s tourism attractions.
BoBu Africa is a popular network that gives insights on Africa by offering engaging journeys and selling unique products that attract Chinese tourists.
