Ownership of a national carrier is instrumental to the development of tourism in any country. For Rwanda, popularly called “the country of a thousand hills and a million smiles,”RwandAir, the national carrier is complemented by readily available developed sites and destinations, road infrastructure and secured environment.
Musoni noted that although many people who are yet to visit Rwanda still perceive the country from the angle of genocide, a new Rwanda with a vision has however replaced the old one that was reduced to ashes by the genocide. “There are lots of things or areas that we feel that we are not there yet and that we have to do more. So, as far as our ambitions are concerned, yes, we want to position ourselves as a transfer hub, connecting Africa and Africa to the world.
“And now, we have overwhelming support of the government and with that, we have the right policies in place and have the right attitude of the people within the airline. “With that comes the growth of tourism and that impacts directly on the airline; not only RwandAir but other operators into Kigali, because the overall goal of the tourism sector is to promote Rwanda as a destination and of course with that, everyone benefits from the initiative.
“When you look at what we have today, there is a huge progress. We have old big brand names coming up every other day. You have the likes of Marriott Hotels and of course, a number of others coming on.” Musoni noted that the government has invested hugely on human capital, particularly in their area of pilots.