For the past couple of years, Rwanda, has been chosen as the venue for many international conferences. A week hardly passes without some kind of international gathering. This is a manifestation of trust, both organisational and capacity, that international bodies have in the country.

Rwanda is not the best endowed country in the region in terms of conference facilities, but it has managed to sell itself to the world as a conference destination.

The enthusiastic reviews it has received in the international media as a miracle in the making have acted as a magnet for high level meetings.

Perhaps our biggest assets that continuously keep cropping up when the country is discussed by foreigners, is the security, cleanliness and organisational attributes that mark the country and Kigali in particular.

The word-of-mouth effect has played a bigger role in selling the country to the outside world than an expensive PR onslaught would ever achieve, but there are still a few drawbacks.

The hospitality industry is still in its infant stage and needy of an accelerated growth to cope with the countries new-found fame.

Many hotel establishments still act as if they are monopolies. Some years ago, it was either the Mille Collines hotel or the former Meridien (Novotel Umubano) and the owners could afford to be choosy; but not today.

Entrepreneurship only succeeds where there is continuous innovation to keep up or surpass the competition, but stagnant policies only help one to be left behind by history.

The old adage that ‘a client is a king’ should ring in their ears unceasingly. They should learn to give their guests an unforgettable stay within their carpeted walls, only then will those guests have something to brag about back home of having stepped in the Land of a Thousand Hills.

Ends