Kigali has emerged the second most preferred destination for international meetings, conferences, and events in Africa according to newly released rankings by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA).
The new rankings put Kigali just behind Cape Town and were founded on the number of association meetings taking place regularly (annually, bi-annually), rotating between at least three different countries and with at least 50 participants.
Kigali moves up from third position where it ranked behind Cape Town (South Africa) and Marrakesh (Morocco) last year.
According to reports, the East African city played host to 26 association meetings last year. These associations include a number of several high-level conferences such the 4th Gender Summit that was held in March, the Mo Ibrahim Governance Weekend, the GSMA Mobile 360 Series Africa, the meeting of the African Society of Human Genetics, the Africa Smart Grid Forum, and the International Conference on Family Planning.
Speaking on the new ranking, the Chief Executive Officer of Rwanda Convention Bureau, Nelly Mukazayire stated that Rwanda is focused on getting better rankings.
“We believe that identifying and working with our local associations will help Rwanda perform better in ICCA rankings in the years to come. Rwanda recorded 38,745 delegates in 2018, up from 28,308 delegates in 2017. Tourism is the country’s largest foreign exchange earner and MICE is playing a significant role in its growth, bringing in 20 percent of all tourism revenues. MICE tourism contributed $56 million in 2018, and this year, we intend to increase it to $88 million,” Mukazayire said.
Reacting to the ICCA report, Rwanda Development Board Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer Emmanuel Hategeka said, ” These rankings are proof that our MICE strategy generates value to Rwanda and act as an incentive to do even more.”
He further attributed the milestone achieved so far to close collaboration between different key stakeholders.
“With close collaboration between Government and the private sector, Rwanda has been able to establish it’s self as a safe, secure MICE destination of choice due to deliberate enabling environment and investment in world-class MICE venues, accommodation facilities, connectivity options and open visa policy among others,” he added.
It is worth noting that Rwanda has a simplified visa regime that makes it possible for people from any part of the world to get a visa on arrival in addition to its easy accessibility due to several flight options could be the reason why it is a preferred MICE destination.
