In order to get a
brief overview of the Novotel Kigali, what is the
profile of the guests you attract to your hotel
today?
90% of the business is from corporate or government
segment, 1% are tourists and 9% are crewmembers
from African airlines.
What is the current occupancy of the hotel?
We have 100 rooms and the hotel is running between
45% to 60% occupancy. Our yearly occupancy is around
50%.
In many similar hotels, we notice that conference
rooms represent the main part of the turnover of
the hotel. To what extent do conferences contribute
to your turnover?
It is true that in Kigali, conferences and seminars
generate a major part of our business. However,
it is difficult to say what share it exactly represent,
as the software presently operating in the hotel
is not accurate. Accor took over this hotel on management
in 2001 and we intend to deploy our company software
in the coming weeks. This will enable us to get
good statistics.
Is conferences part of your development strategy
for the hotel or are you mainly focused on increasing
the occupancy rate?
Yes, of course because conferences in Kigali also
generate room occupancy. But you should know that,
in the hotel industry, the main part of the profit
comes from the rooms and, far behind, conferences
and Food & Beverage operations. Therefore, the
best target are international conferences with delegates
staying in the hotel.
Today there are only two hotels, which are capable
of holding 150-200 people in a conference. So I
think the business is more or less equally shared
with our competitor.
What is your marketing policy in order to attract
new customers to the hotel?
As I have only been here for few weeks, it is difficult
to say what will be the marketing policy in the
coming months. I first have to analyse the origin
of the business in Kigali before develop a strategy.
What I have noticed so far is that a big share of
the business seemed to be generated by the government,
embassies and NGO's. Therefore, the contacts are
here, in Kigali. That could be the first target.
Then, sales trips in the region will probably be
needed to increase our share on East African countries.
I am convinced that there is some potential for
corporate business.
Talking about tourism, as there is a very big will
from the government to develop this sector, I think
it will be interesting in the coming years to go
to Berlin, London, Paris and Milan and try to promote
this segment. But right now it is a very small market.
So I suppose your strategy relies more on what the
government is going to do for the tourism sector.
Yes, definitely, taking into consideration that
at the end of the day, businessmen and seminars
will still be the biggest segment of our business.
Novotel owns lodges in some national parks of
neighbouring countries. Has Novotel the intention
to create such lodges outside Kigali?
Novotel is one brand within the Accor group and
Accor policy is more to bring investors than investing
itself. In Tanzania, we were managing government
lodges. Here, we know that the government would
like to find investors to renovate the properties
in the country side. If we can find these investors,
we would be glad to convince them to come in Rwanda
and develop the hotel industry with Accor.
Two new hotels are being built in Kigali. How
do you expect this new competition to impact on
your activity and what will be your strategy to
counterbalance this impact?
Today, the existing business in the two main hotels
of Kigali is just enough to reach 60% occupancy.
Building two new hotels will definitively have a
strong impact on us. However, until they are completed,
we will see if all the measures taken by the government
will boost the hotel industry as, with the two openings,
the number of rooms in the upper segment will double.
I think that there is a need of hotels in the 2*
market but the 3 and 4* segment is fully covered
by the two exiting hotels.
I recently told my manager and the owning company
that we have three years to complete the renovation
of the hotel. If we can manage to get the air conditioning
in all the rooms, renovate the public areas and
upgrade our leisure facilities, then we would be
in a very good position to face new hotels.
Furthermore, we have to develop strong customers
relations and make our clients faithful to the brand
and this hotel. If we take good care of these clients,
if our hotel and staff are good, why should our
customers leave us for a new hotel where nobody
will know them?
How soon will the five star hotels be launched?
The Ministry of Commerce says not before 3 or 4
years. Today the two existing big hotels are hardly
running at 60% occupancy. The small hotels put together
are running at about 30% occupancy. If you bring
on the market 150 rooms, which are from the Hôtel
Des Diplomate and the Hotel Kiyovu, then we will
drop occupancy. The Ministry of Tourism says that
we have to get money out of the existing hotels
before you bring new hotels on the market. So we
have four years to build our clientele and make
sure they will be interested in our services whatever
comes on the market. |
The government has
recognised the role that tourism can play in the
development of the country. However, it is observed
that foreigners are not well informed about the
tourism potential of your country. As GM of Novotel,
do you feel the government is following the right
strategy and is investing enough in promoting and
making the tourism industry more efficient?
Today there is a political decision to promote tourism.
Before 1994, there was sustainable tourism; unfortunately
today Kenya and Tanzania have developed their tourism
industries. It is going to be difficult for Rwanda
to approach the tourism industry because they don't
have much more to offer except gorillas and the
number of visitors to the gorillas is limited. If
you bring more people and they can't go to see the
gorillas, then they will be very frustrated. The
government is putting all the professionalism of
people to develop this industry. But it will take
some time before tourism will present a real income
to the country.
We were also hearing about regional cooperation.
To what extent do you think Rwanda could benefit
from cooperating with neighbouring countries like
Kenya and Tanzania?
They could sell package tours through international
tour operators. With maybe one week in Kenya at
the seaside or one week in Zanzibar and a few days
here, this is a possibility. Today, the biggest
problem is communication because so far there are
only 2 direct flights from Europe and regional airlines
do not offer sufficient flights with the neighbourhoods
countries
I think you that if you have to change a plane or
to make one or two stops, it is not very good from
the tourist's point of view.
However, Rwanda is targeting a different clientele
than Kenya where mass tourism has been developed.
Due to it size and potential, Rwanda is targeting
upper market clients.
We know you have only been here for a short period
of time, but have you been able to exchange your
views on the tourism sector with the government
and ORTPN?
From the very first days after my arrival, I was
invited to participate at a seminar organized by
ORTPN. And, since then, we have had at least one
meeting every month. So there is a permanent exchange
of view and experience.
I also suggested to ORTPN to develop a line of derivate
products from the gorilla theme. Having spent over
a year in northern Tanzania, I have seen what can
be sold to the tourists and businessmen and here,
with the mountains gorillas, there have a fantastic
opportunity.So we will work together to create these
products and promote them in our hotel.
According to you, what are the main setbacks
or limits to the development of the tourism sector?
First, the number of tourism sites. There is Akagera
that is a tenth of Serengeti and can be visited
in one day, Nyungwe forest and the Volcano National
Park. All these sites are orientated to wildlife.
Then you have the Kivu region , Butare and some
possibilities of visits of coffee and ta plantations.
However, the second obstacle is the almost absence
of good accommodation outside Kigali. This must
be a priority for the development of tourism.
The last setback is the price of airline tickets
: today you cannot fly to Kigali for less than 1,000
euros. The average price of a ticket ranges from
1,500 to 2,200 euros. It makes the stay expensive.
How long do you think it will take for Rwanda
to re-boost the tourism industry?
To develop tourism, you have to count about 6months
to one year from the time you think of getting the
people or from the time you get the first tourist.
We are talking about a country whose history is
not too easy to forget. The target that has been
given is to present a proper tourism program at
the World Tourism Market in November next year.
So they have a year and a half to develop a product.
I could say that by the middle of 2004, you can
expect the first organised groups of tourists through
the normal channels.
In order to achieve this target, investors first
have to come. In which areas related to the tourism
sector would you see the best investment opportunities?
Development of the hotel industry definitely because
they are some nice opportunities. Today, when you
leave Kigali in the morning, you have to come back
at night unless you want to sleep in very basic
lodges. I think it is profitable to build small
hotels in the countryside for tourists and businessmen
because you have a rather quick return on investment.
Every businessman coming to Kigali is a potential
tourist because it is much easier to sell trip to
a businessman who comes here than to bring tourists
from around the world. If you sell t-shirts, caps
and stickers of the gorillas to the coming businessmen,
they will get interested and try to find some time
to visit the country.
New hotels will be created, but will there be
enough supply of qualified staff?
Today any new hotel that would open would first
take the staff from the existing hotels because
there is no hotel school and people just receive
very basic training. Even if they received proper
training they would not get work, as there is enough
staff in the existing hotels. But there is a project
with the European Community to help the existing
hotel schools. This project will start in September
with the help of hotel industry experts coming to
Kigali to train the teachers.
You worked for Novotel in Arusha and now you
are working here in Rwanda, how would you compare
those two experiences?
First of all the market is very different, the hotel
I was working for in Arusha was a 60% businessman's
hotel even though Arusha is a tourist hub. There
is nothing to see in Arusha, so most of the tourists
arrive at night and go to the park the next day
so you hardly see them.
In addition, Arusha is not the capital, so you do
not have government, NGOs and industries. Arusha
exists today because of ICTR and the head office
of the East African community is based there.
Here you have potential because Kigali is the capital
and we are in the process of rebuilding the country
and its image. We can expect dramatic increase of
visitors in the coming months and years.
Finally, the mentally of people is much more business
orientated here in Rwanda and it is definitively
a very good asset to promote the country and give
a positive image to future investors.
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