Travel deals between Rwanda and China have been made easy with the placement of Rwanda tourism products on Fliggy, China’s major online travel service platform. Fliggy enable Chinese travelers to directly book Rwanda travel packages online enabling them to explore the hidden gem, which make this land of a thousand hills an exceptional tourism destination. The electronic world trade platform was launched on 30th October 2018 between Rwanda Development Board and the Alibaba group. The memorandum of understanding between the two governments allows Fliggy for china and RDB for Rwanda to work together in promoting Rwanda as a tourist destination. All transactions are done through Rwanda Tourism Store for booking flights, hotels and travel experiences and a destination pavilion where Chinese consumers can learn more Rwanda and her tourism products. H.E Paul Kagame for Rwanda and Jack Ma the founder of and Chief Executive Officer for the Alibaba group of companies signed the agreement between Rwanda and China respectively. With do doubt, Chinese’s direct access of Rwanda tourism products will increase the country’s tourism traffic from China. According to the chairman of Rwanda Chamber of tourism, the Electronic World trade platform is a good deal for Rwanda, which will help the country to efficiently penetrate into Chinese market. Chinese travelers can now book Rwanda gorilla tours, chimpanzee trekking, kigali city tours and other wildlife experiences in Rwanda online
Also, the marketing of Rwanda tourism products on China’ Fliggy will cut off all the trade intermediaries, reducing commissions and saving Rwanda from the initial expenses. Direct trade will help Rwanda Development Board to earn more profits with reduced expenditures. To maximize trade benefits, Rwanda Development Board urged all tourism businesses in Rwanda to embrace and make use of this online platform. Rwanda travel operators are also advised to package their products in a more unique and innovative way maintaining the standards of Rwanda as an attractive and competitive tourism destination, which offer exceptional travel experiences at affordable prices. The major objective of electronic world trade platform is to support the development of the digital economy in Rwanda by making it easier for Rwandan companies to participate in global trade.
Also, Fliggy help Rwandan tour operators and hotel owners to aggressively create awareness and sell Rwandan tourism products and services to the Chinese outbound tourists. Rwanda hopes to receive a high number of Chines travelers since China is the largest source of the global outbound tourist traffic and the most spenders in the travel market. Last year Rwanda hosted over 131 Chinese traveled which spending an average of US$ 726 per person on retail shopping while non-Chinese tourists spent an average of US$486 per person. In 2016, China tourism expenditure mounted to over US$261 contributing over 21% of the world’s international tourism spending. Unfortunately, Africa accounted for only 2% of it. Therefore, there is great hope that Rwanda’s direct marketing on China’s Fliggy will increase Rwanda’s traffic from china hence bringing in more tourism revenue. In 2017, Rwanda earned over $438 M which is expected to increase in 2018 with the introduction of online marketing.
Mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National park are key attractions in Rwanda attracting over 90% of Rwanda’s tourist arrivals. A single gorilla permit in Rwanda costs $1500, which contributes to the country’s gross domestic products and general performance of the national’s economy.
Other attractions in Rwanda include chimpanzees and canopy walk in Nyungwe forest national park, game viewing in Akagera national park , Virunga volcano climbing , cultural encounters, Kigali city tour, boat cruise and spot fishing on lake kivu among others. A combination of these activities makes a complete Rwanda travel package to meet, satisfy and exceed every travelers expectations.