- Rwanda signs investment pact with US comedian Steve Harvey joining a list of countries in Africa tapping Hollywood stars to promote tourism.
- New deal will establish an academic institution in Kigali.
- Steve Harvey to invest in education, health and film in Rwanda.
Tourism in Rwanda is growing and to help speed up the process, the country has signed a deal with a renowned famous American entertainer, Steve Harvey. The move is part of strategies being deployed by African couintries to uniquely market their tourism offering to the world. Kigali’s move follows similar steps taken by Tanzania, which signed a pact with Hollywood star Idris Elba to launch a film studio in Zanzibar, an archipelago in the East African nation.
In Rwanda, the deal was signed at the end of 2024 between the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and BILT LLC, an American company owned by Steve Harvey. In a media communication shared after the deal signing, RDB CEO Francis Gatare said the partnership is aimed at promoting tourism and investment in Rwanda.
Steve Harvey was in Rwanda’s capital Kigali in December last year for the deal signing event. This was the entertainer’s second visit to the fast growing East African tourist destination. His first visit was attendance at the International Automobile Federation (FIA) awards that were held in Kigali recently.
In his comments, Francis Gatare, Chief Executive Officer, Rwanda Development Board (RDB) said; “The signed deal covers developing skills in film, media, and education, alongside health and wellness initiatives.”
A media report released at the MoU signing quotes the RDB CEO expounding that the pact includes plans to establish an academic institution through Harvey’s education company, Melt Education.
Rwanda’s tourism sector has grown by 36 per cent and we want to grow it further and faster, he said. He also pointed out that sector racked up $620 million in 2023, up from $445 million in 2022 and the plan was to clock $800 million in tourism revenue last year; the exact data from 2024 are yet to be released.
Rwanda tourism sector
According to the World Bank, the tourism sector has the potential to continue to increase Rwanda’s economic growth significantly. In its 20th edition of the Rwanda Economic Update, the World Bank points out that Nature-Based Tourism (NBT), a sub-sector of tourism, generates an estimated 80 per cent of foreign exchange earned in Rwanda.
Rwanda is mostly famous for its silver back gorillas that are very rare and attract a huge number of tourists to Rwanda annually.
However, “while Rwanda’s gorilla trekking is a unique tourist attraction, it faces competition from other wildlife destinations in the region, as well restrictions on the numbers of permits issued each year because of the need to preserve habitat for the gorillas, and their population, limiting Rwanda’s ability to raise prices or increase the number of tourists involved,” the World Bank reports.
That been the fact, the World Bank advices Rwanda on the need to diversify its tourism to reduce the current overdependence on gorilla trekking. The World Bank also points to several other challenges including the risk of environmental degradation; “especially a decline in natural vegetation and the deterioration of forests that threaten to reduce wildlife populations,” reads the report in part.
“A decline in the ability of people in surrounding communities to remain economically sustainable could also exacerbate pressure on protected wildlife areas,” the World Bank warns.
It also points to damaging climate change factors,”warming temperatures, resulting from climate change, are likely to reduce tourist demand in tropical regions and further degrade natural habitats.”
The World Bank also offers some suggestions that could help Rwanda salvage its tourism sector. If Rwanda is to mitigate these challenges and increase the economic impact of the sector, the World Bank urges the country to increase private sector investment to promote nature-based tourism.
In seeking the US entertainer and businessman, Rwanda is acting upon the World Bank advice of seeking private sector investment to boost its tourism growth. “It is important to rely on diversified sources of financing for both the public and private sector, including debt and non-debt instruments, and to establish the policy framework required to encourage investment in Nature-Based Tourism,” the Bank says in the report.
According to the report, increasing the amount of investment placed in natural capital will support the sector and improve fiscal sustainability and growth. “But, importantly, encouraging increased private investment in NBT through public-public-private partnerships would raise Rwanda’s GDP more than relying solely on public resources to do so,” the Bank cautions.
The World Bank explains that the private sector can be involved through outsourcing of investment and provision of management services in state-owned protected areas, or licensing commercial activities adjacent to these areas.
“Sustainability-linked financing instruments, non-debt solutions tied to carbon markets, and private sector-led equity investments are some of the proven approaches to accessing private finance for Nature Based Tourism,” it said.
It also highlights that Rwanda can issue bonds based on conservation activities or what it describes as, green investments, as well as establishing funds to support biodiversity and climate change adaptation.
To encourage private sector participation even further, Rwanda is advised to consider rewarding reductions in emissions for companies and to also discourage deforestation and forest degradation.
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Tanzania signs deal with Idris Elba
In a similar move to Rwanda, Tanzania was a step ahead of its neighbour in soliciting global influencers to promote its tourism sector and attract investment in various other areas. In 2023, Tanzania allocated Hollywood star Idris Elba to launch a film studio in Zanzibar.
The British actor held talks with Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Following the discussions, the president’s spokesperson released a media statement that said “if successful, the project will help not only Tanzania but also eastern and central Africa”.
Mr. Elba is a Golden Globes winner and Tanzania is not the only African country that he is considering to build a film studio in, he made it public that he would be building another one in Ghana.
“Currently, we call it West African Studios, but that’s a working title. We’ve been working on this for three or four years to raise a plan that puts a facility at the centre of African filmmaking,” the renowned Hollywood star revealed.
The movie star also has plans to invest in a smart city in his father’s birthplace, Sierra Leone and to restore an island off the West African country’s coast.
