Rwanda : Rwanda tour guides get regional rating

A total of twenty five Rwanda tour guides who sat for the guides exams passed with flying colours. The guides were awarded their ratings after successfully demonstrating their various competence levels in the May exam.

This according to Rwanda Development Board (RDB) comes in the effort to uplift professionalism into Rwanda’s tourism industry.

In the exam, seven attained the 1 star (bronze level), ten attained the two star (silver level), six attained the three star (gold level), while two of the guides attained the coveted 4 star which is the diamond level.

It was established that during the exam, East African regional standards were used, similar to the examinations administered regularly by the Kenya Professional Safari Guide Association or Uganda’s Safari Guide Association.

RDB’s Tourism and Conservation Department has for several years now supported the drive to train our staff. The Private Sector Federation also has been instrumental and the private sector has been fully behind this objective.

“We are proud to have to top rated guides now and others with high exam pass rates. More courses will now follow and there will be regular exams so that newcomers can test their skills and others can attain higher grades and then get better pay,” said a source in RDB about the exams.

This comes just a few days after it was reported that Rwanda’s tourism revenues grew yet again by 11 percent compared to the already record breaking year 2011.