Security key to attracting tourism investment in East Africa

Cooperation among East African countries on security will be the major catalyst for attracting more investments in tourism.

Innocent Bajiji, the acting head of Investments Promotion at the Rwandan Development Board said the East African Community's initiatives to attract tourists and investors in the hospitality industry relies heavily on how the nations secure their territories.

"We have seen from experience that investors want to be assured that their investments will be safe. Rwanda puts security for business as first priority," Mr Bajiji told the Nation.

"But Rwanda also knows it cannot succeed in isolation that is we are supporting initiatives like the single tourism visa (in the EAC). Ever since that programme started, you can see numbers of tourism have shot up in the region," he added.

Mr Bajiji spoke to the Nation on the sidelines of the African Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF), which opened in Kigali on Tuesday.

Rwandan officials used the forum to showcase how better policies and good investment environment can boost the hospitality sector.

Rwanda said it is reaping from the single tourism visa. The country currently receives 1.2 million guests a year compared with 252,000 two decades ago.

With rising private investments in the sector, there are about 10,000 guest rooms in the country.

Investors are routinely given an easier route to register businesses and tax holidays. Recently, the country removed the capital gains tax.

Mr Bajiji says Rwanda is targeting Sh4 billion more worth of investments in hotels and lodges.

"The fact is that we also share tourism facilities which means that we need security even more. That is why initiatives such as the Eastern African standby force is welcome," he said referring to a recent effort under the African Union to create a brigade that could be charged with quelling upheavals in the region.

Countries have recently been holding joint training sessions but it is expected that each military will have a select pool of soldiers at the ready.

"For us as policymakers, it is also our role is to ensure some of the good policies on cooperation are implemented because this area has great potential," he said.

The AHIF meeting, organised by the Rwanda Development Board in conjunction with Radisson Blu, Hilton and Marriott hotels brings together players in the hotel industry, real estate developers and government officials.

A report published on Tuesday by real-estate investment services group JLL states that the sector could grow by up to 5 per cent per year by 2018, attracting investments worth $1.7 billion.

"The region offers a broad range of challenges and opportunities. From the perspective of global capital searching for opportunities, the region can be a challenging one to navigate," Xander Nijnens, the JLL senior vice-president for Sub-Saharan Africa, said at the launch of the report.

Investors, the report argues, face the challenge of finding projects that will make returns in a short time. As such, the document says potential business deals are put on hold as countries strive to change policies and make the sector attractive.