On Wednesday, Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and the London-based soccer team, Arsenal Football Club, announced an unprecedented deal that Rwanda would become the official tourism partner of the premier league club.
The three-year partnership, which will see the new “Visit Rwanda” logo on the left sleeve of all first team, under-23 and Arsenal Women’s matches from the upcoming season starting August, makes Rwanda the first ever shirt sleeve partner for Arsenal.
We’ll have a sleeve sponsor on our shirts from 2018/19 – we’re pleased to welcome our Official Tourism Partner
In an interview with The New Times, Sunny Ntayombya, the Head of Communications and Marketing at RDB, said the deal whose worth remains undisclosed is set to deliver long-term in terms of investment and tourism more than the actual cost of investment.
“While we cannot disclose the amount, the partnership cost is part of our marketing budget to promote Rwanda and attract investors and tourists. We expect the partnership to deliver far more long-term in terms of investment and tourism than the actual cost of the partnership,” Ntayombya said.
The deal will, among other things, highlight Rwanda’s tourism offerings such as national parks, which are growing destinations to global tourists due to increasing diversity of game they offer.
Rwanda recently restocked Akagera National Park with wildlife like the black rhino and lions while the Virunga National Park – which is home to the rare mountain gorillas – a destination for high end tourism.
“It will also bring other benefits – such as using Arsenal’s expertise to further improve footballing skills among men and women in Rwanda itself. Sport is an amazing way of uniting people – as has been seen with the recent opening of the new International Cricket Stadium in Kigali,” he added.
Rwanda received 1.3 million visitor arrivals in 2017.
Of these, 94,000 tourists visited Rwanda’s three national parks of Nyungwe National Park, Akagera National Park and Volcanoes National Park. Tourism has generated 90,000 jobs and is Rwanda’s largest foreign exchange earner.
The tourism sector transformation has been made possible through various initiatives such as the revenue sharing scheme, according to Ntayombya.
The scheme allots 10 per cent of the proceeds from tourism which is invested in communities around national parks.
Via – http://www.newtimes.co.rw/
