Rwanda Office for Tourism and National Parks (ORTPN) has been selected to be a model for executing e-Tourism in Africa.
This development followed a long-term partnership between the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and Microsoft that will provide ICT systems and tools for emerging tourism economies to improve their product quality, competitiveness and support skills, where the primary focus will on Africa. This pact was announced at the e-Tourism meet held in Cape Town during which the director general of ORPTN, Ms. Rosette Chantal Rugamba made a presentation about Rwanda's Tourism Strategy. Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Bill Gates described the partnership with UNWTO as the kind of implementing program that will help over 40 million people in Africa drive toward future economic growth. Rwanda currently receives 20,000 tourists every year, earning the sector $26million. ORTPN has plans of increasing the sector's contribution to GDP to $100m by 2010 and maybe with the adoption of e-Tourism, it can make that target more achievable.
