President Kagame, FIA President Ben Sulayem present Max Verstappen, with the best driver’s award at FIA Awards 2024. Rwanda is eyeing more international sporting events. File Photo
Rwanda is undertaking an ambitious plan to attract international sporting events, including Formula 1 and MotoGP, to draw in more tourists and visitors in the country, as well as revenues.
This is what was revealed by President Paul Kagame during a press conference on Thursday, January 9, revealing that Rwanda’s bid to host the F1 is on course and that he is optimistic that the country can get a nod to host prestigious motorsport.
Grand Prix motorcycle racing, otherwise known as MotoGP, is the highest class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM).
Building on the recent successful hosting of the annual Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) General Assembly and FIA Awards in Kigali in December 2024, President Kagame said that he is confident the country can leverage global and continental sporting events to attract visitors from across the world.
“FIA was a success, I think, and it is part of what you also in fact said, creating a sports hub and other businesses that incorporate sports in their ecosystems,” President Kagame said when asked.
He said that Rwanda’s bid to host F1 is on track, for the first time revealing that MotoGP was also on the cards. Currently, just like F1, Africa does not have a MotoGP race.
“For Formula 1, we did the bidding, it is making good progress and we are also in discussions with MotoGP. As you might be aware, this year we are going to host the World Cycling Championship here in Rwanda,” President Kagame said.
“All these are things that are happening according to plan and having thought through all this. The benefit to the country, to businesses and the people of this country and Africa are enormous.
“They are limitless opportunities and that’s why we made that choice,” President Kagame said, adding that previous partnerships entered into with Arsenal Football Club, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint Germain (PSG), have paid off already.
“The results have spoken for themselves. It brings in people. I see people writing so many things about ‘Rwanda is open’ It is really open for business, open for tourism, open for education,”
“We have brought people through education channels to [universities] we have here, Carnegie Mellon and many others that have established here,” President Kagame said, adding that all these are deliberate moves the government has taken and it does not regret.
President Kagame said that Rwanda is deliberate in its efforts to build a sports hub.
“So far, generally I don’t know any of these endeavours that we have undertaken that have led to the government regretting that we did this and that. In fact, it is just all benefits. With time the benefits become more tangible, you show it in numbers, more clearly than it is now,” President Kagame explained.
Industry players upbeat
Rwanda tour operators are confident that Rwanda bidding and hosting international sporting events will go a long way in boosting the tourism and hospitality industry this year and the years to come.
With more international events coming to Rwanda, tour operators are eyeing more opportunities to offer packages not only for visitors but also international stars and celebrities who come to attend such events and later on engage in tourism activities like Mountain Gorilla trekking.
Players in the tourism sector are anticipating a boom in the tourism and travel industry in 2025, buoyed by a solid performance of 2024, despite the Marburg Virus disease threatening to interrupt the progress in the second half of the way but was quickly nipped in the bud.
“All these prospects give us hope that the tourism industry will be the biggest beneficiary of these global events,” says Frank Muzungu, Managing Director, Kigali Car Rentals, a tour company operating in Rwanda and across EAC countries.
“We have already seen people coming from Europe, Asia and North America, simply because of the ‘Visit Rwanda’ brand they see on TV when Arsenal is playing,” says Muzungu, adding that they hope to cash in on the sporting and MICE activities going forward.
Muzungu says their tour company, which cuts across East Africa, to offer tourists more options and products that can give tourists value for money, will benefit from the initiatives Rwanda is undertaking.
Tour operators are confident Rwanda becoming a sports hub will boost tourism numbers.
With the country’s open visa policy as well as the single EAC tourist visa, Muzungu says that such international events won’t benefit Rwanda but also regional countries and the continent.
Following a boom festive season, which saw a spike in tourism movements between Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and Tanzania, leading into the new year, regional players in the tourism industry are projecting a successful 2025 ahead.
Rwanda has been registering a steady upsurge in tourism numbers post the Covid-19 pandemic. Though Rwanda Development Board (RDB) is yet to release tourism numbers for 2024, the first two quarters of the year indicated a sustained upward trajectory.
Numbers further show that tourists and travellers who visited Rwanda from various parts of the world spent $267.71 million on goods and services in the first half of 2024, according to the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR).
The results indicate an increase of more than 11 per cent compared to $236.2 million visitors spent in the first half of 2023, as per NISR figures.
The Travel Expenditure Survey (TES) Report 2024 was conducted from November 2023 to January 2024 for the first quarter, and May to July 2024 for the second quarter.
In 2023, Rwanda received 1.4 million tourists, which was almost three times the number of visitors in 2021. In the first half of 2023, Rwanda generated $247 million from tourism.
Similarly, 2023, tourism revenues in Rwanda surpassed $500 million for the first time. Some of the factors that contributed to Rwanda’s tourism growth were mainly improved connectivity, thanks to the nation carrier RwandAir.
Without revealing details, President Kagame said that plans to partner with Qatar to expand the airline and build an airport are progressing well.
