{"id":18168,"date":"2023-11-02T22:57:24","date_gmt":"2023-11-02T22:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paulkagame.com\/?p=18168"},"modified":"2023-11-07T06:59:39","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T06:59:39","slug":"23rd-world-travel-tourism-council-wttc-global-summit-remarks-by-president-kagame-kigali-2-november-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/?p=18168","title":{"rendered":"23rd World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) Global Summit | Remarks by President Kagame | Kigali, 2 November 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

I am very pleased to join you to open the World Travel and Tourism Council Global Summit, the first-ever, as said earlier, in Africa.<\/p>\n

We are very honoured by the presence here today of my sister, Her Excellency President Samia Suluhu Hassan.<\/p>\n

Madam President, I thank you most sincerely for your presence.<\/p>\n

I also thank the other countries represented here today, especially from our East African region. This is very important.<\/p>\n

After all, when tourists visit Rwanda, they usually also have a stop in Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, or Uganda as well.<\/p>\n

We are actually a single destination, with attractions and experiences that reinforce one another.<\/p>\n

To WTTC, I thank you very much for choosing Rwanda as the venue for this year\u2019s summit, and for the excellent work that you and your members are doing.<\/p>\n

You honour not only our country, Rwanda, but also Africa as a whole. From here, Africa can connect with the rest of the world, and vice versa.<\/p>\n

Let me explain why this moment is so meaningful for us.<\/p>\n

Almost thirty years ago, Rwanda experienced its darkest moment.<\/p>\n

This was a place that people fled from, a situation that the world looked away from, in horror.<\/p>\n

But we vowed not to let the past define us.<\/p>\n

This meant building a nation, where all Rwandans live in peace and dignity.<\/p>\n

And indeed, beyond that, we imagined a Rwanda that anyone in the world would want to travel to.<\/p>\n

That is how, early on, we identified tourism as a key driver of economic growth, and employment.<\/p>\n

We have not been disappointed.<\/p>\n

Every year, we welcome so many visitors, who come to Rwanda and to enjoy the unique natural beauty, to attend sporting events, or to participate in gatherings like this one.<\/p>\n

This is a privilege and a trust that we do not take for granted.<\/p>\n

Conservation is a big part of our strategy to build a more sustainable future. We are delighted that the Nyungwe National Park is now a World Heritage Site.<\/p>\n

We are also investing in the infrastructure and skills to host major sporting events, such as Basketball Africa League.<\/p>\n

Globally, the travel and tourism industry has recovered strongly.<\/p>\n

But the high cost of air travel to Africa, and within Africa, remains a barrier. Implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) is therefore an important priority.<\/p>\n

We also removed visa restrictions for citizens of every African country, as well as many other countries.<\/p>\n

Let there be no mistake about it: Any African can get on a plane to Rwanda whenever they wish, and you will not pay a thing to enter our country.<\/p>\n

We should not lose sight of our own continental market.<\/p>\n

Africans are the future of global tourism, as our middle class continues to grow at a fast pace in the decades to come.<\/p>\n

We must work closely together with partners like you, to continue developing Africa into a premier destination for global travel.<\/p>\n

I hope you will take some time to visit Rwanda before you depart, and that you will return here, often.<\/p>\n

I wish you productive deliberations, and I thank you for your kind attention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am very pleased to join you to open the World Travel and Tourism Council Global Summit, the first-ever, as said earlier, in Africa. We are very honoured by the presence here today of my sister, Her Excellency President Samia Suluhu Hassan. Madam President, I thank you most sincerely for your presence. I also thank the other countries represented here today, especially from our East African region. This is very important. After all, when tourists visit Rwanda, they usually also…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-speech","post-has-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18170,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18168\/revisions\/18170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}