- The postponement of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm 2021) is a a severe blow to Rwanda’s ailing economy, which is already struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- Service sector, particularly retail, leisure and hospitality and conference tourism form a major segment of the Rwandan economy accounting for most jobs in the country.
The postponement of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm 2021) is a severe blow to Rwanda’s ailing economy, which is already struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic. The service sector, particularly retail, leisure and hospitality and conference tourism form a major segment of the Rwandan economy accounting for most jobs in the country.
Rwanda is fully prepared to host the meeting on a yet to be announced later date. About 10,000 delegates from the 53 Commonwealth member countries were expected to participate in the event that was estimated to generate at least $780 million in revenues from hosting the meeting and earnings from visitors’ expenditure. Local businesses that had spent huge resources on upgrading their facilities and hiring staff ahead of the meeting are hit hard.
The CHOGM postponement has hit Rwanda’s strategy to be a hub for Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE). The country was developing well as a MICE hub.It was ranked as Africa’s second most popular conference destination by the International Congress and Convention, based on the number of association meetings taking place regularly in 2019. This ambition was severely hit by the pandemic.
The Covid-19 pandemic almost wiped out all the revenues from conference tourism after the cancellation of over 50 percent of the planned conferences. From $56 million in 2019, the revenue plunged to almost zero after the country went into lockdown in March 2020. As a result, the country seems to have missed its $80 million revenue target from MICE. The country was scheduled to host at least 147 events between March and April 2020, but it has foregone at least $10 million in conference revenues. Many hotels had invested heavily to meet the CHGM requirement. For instance, Hotel Gorillas had taken out a loan to upgrade its facilities.
