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The Rwanda tourism fraternity lay the foundation stone at Gisakura site, where the first high-end Eco-lodge in Nyungwe Park will be constructed.

The National Park’s tourism office said that 25 units are to be constructed to end the major accommodation challenges that heve been faced by Nyungwe primate park since its declaration in 2005.

While making a presentation on the concept of the Eco-lodge, the architect, Rihal Sandeep, said the form of the building model will resemble ‘nests suspended in trees’ with awesome views of the forest and tea fields. He says the building will host a presidential suite, luxury villas, a forest, tea villas, tree houses and a nature centre.

Other facilities will include; a library and view tower, reception, kitchen, dining, fitness centre, and quarters for staff.

“The construction of the eco-lodge is timely as it will address the accommodation problem in Nyungwe. It will be an important milestone in our efforts towards improving the tourism experience in all our national parks while increasing tourists’ length of stay as they discover Nyungwe’s awesome treasures”, said Hon. Protais Mitali, the current Minister of Tourism.

He says the eco-lodge will facilitate the tourists to complete the primates discovery circuit after having visited the gorillas in Volcanoes Park and other tourism sites in the country.

The eco-lodge will uplift the status of the entire region and has already provided employment to 318 residents of Nyamasheke.

Most of the material used in construction and the interior accessories will be locally sourced, thus benefiting neighbouring communities including artists and weavers whose work will be showcased in the eco-lodge. Upon completion, residents are also expected to provide food sources to the eco-lodge.

A US$15million 4-star hotel and $1.5million training institute will soon be set up in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda to strengthen its tourism industry.

The director general of the Canadian Consortium for development in the tourist and hotel sector in Africa (CCDTHA) Mr. Jacques Roy said that the multi-million dollar project will be completed in two phases.

The US$1.5million tourism and hotel training school will be set up fist followed by the $15million 4-star hotel facility that will provide accommodation to Rwanda’s visitors and travelers. The hotel training school will facilitate 600 students with a capacity of 200 in each scholar year, and issuing out degrees to successful students.

The 4-star hotel to be built will not only advance the number of hotel beds in Rwanda but will proceed to be the hands on and practical training ground for a new breed of experts from the institution that are the core of the tourism and hotel sector.

Mr. Jacques Roy said that CCDTHA is in partnership with Merici College that will be exclusively in charge of the training in the tourism and hotel training school. The first group of students is to be admitted come August 2007.

The Rwanda Investment and Export Promotion Agency (RIEPA) office in Montreal , Canada helped to make the investment bonding between the Canadians and Rwandan tourism community possible.

The investment communities involved have been credited for taking part in the development of hotels in Rwanda and the Rwanda Tourism Sector.