How Rwanda Reinvented Itself

[SOUND OF INDISTINCT TALKING, CARS HONKING, MOTORCYCLES DRIVING]

HANNAH UGURU, PRODUCER: Kigali is a vibrant city. There’s a lot of hustle and bustle. It’s very diverse.

TARIRO MZEZEWA, HOST: Producer Hannah Uguru is in Kigali — the capital city of Rwanda.

HU: So on some parts you’ll have, like, dirt roads and you’ll have like people on the markets and like, small, stone houses. Sometimes you’ll see a random goat on the street, but then like, walk five minutes and then you’re like, in the main road.

[MUSIC]

TM: When Hannah visited Rwanda last year, she found a country that’s teeming with new development. A hub with tourists visiting from all around the world. She checked out popular milk bars, restaurants, and theaters.

HU: There’s a mall near my Airbnb, and lots of motorcycle, motorbike taxis, as well as, regular car taxis. And then you have downtown area, which is, like, very local. It’s predominantly, like,
local Rwandans.

TM: In recent years, tourism has become a big part of Rwanda’s economy. More than 1.4 million people visited the East African country in 2023. And this tourism boom is no accident.

Over the past 30 years, Rwanda’s officials have made an intentional shift to expand the economy through tourism. They’ve built infrastructure, museums, music venues, and a glitzy convention center to attract all kinds of visitors. They’ve funneled money into international marketing campaigns and partnerships with big hotels and businesses.

Yet despite all this progress, a lot of westerners still associate Rwanda with a singular event: the genocide that took place in the country in 1994, which left some 800,000 people dead.

When you were telling people that you were heading to Rwanda, when you were still at home, telling friends and family. How did they react?

HU: They were very like, “Why are you going there?” Like, [Laughter] “What’s there?” I don’t think many people know about Rwanda outside of, like, the politics and the genocide.

[THEME MUSIC]

TM: From WHYY, this is Peak Travel. I’m Tariro Mzezewa. Rwanda went through a devastating genocide 30 years ago. Since then, the country has become a prime example of successful development in Africa — it’s now a top destination. In this episode: Rwanda’s rebirth, how tourism has changed the country, and why this compelling narrative is more complicated than it appears.

[MIDROLL BREAK]

Hannah’s in the car with Jacques Murigande, a musician. His stage name is Mighty Popo. He says the area has changed a lot since the genocide.

[SOUND OF A CAR DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD]

JACQUES MURIGANDE: I mean, I worked this, I worked this road, you know, we used to dig this road to make this happen. So we came and just clean these roads, this pavement you see here, you know, it’s probably less than ten years old, you know?

TM: Like many other Rwandans, Mighty Popo’s parents fled to Burundi, where he was born. They later moved to Canada.

HU: And then he came back to Rwanda. And his reasoning for coming back to Rwanda was because he wanted to give back to his people and, like, develop again the music and arts, and cultural scene in Rwanda. And he’s really passionate about using music and arts to express yourself, and he wanted to give that opportunity to young people in Rwanda in particular.

TM: For Mighty Popo, one of many tragedies associated with the genocide was Rwanda’s loss of an arts and culture scene.

JM: I mean, it’s just madness. And art went along with that, you know? So everything, everything had to be rebuilt.

[MUSIC]

TM: The genocide was brief, but devastating. Over the course of 100 days in 1994, hundreds of thousands of people — overwhelmingly of the Tutsi ethnic minority — were killed. Two million more fled as refugees.

To the rest of the world, this violence seemed to come out of nowhere. But the conditions that led to the genocide started at the beginning of the century. During World War I, in 1916, Belgium took over Rwanda and began sowing division between the two main ethnic groups: the Hutu and the Tutsi. Belgian officials went so far as to issue ID cards which listed ethnicity. This, among many other actions, spurred repeated power struggles and violent conflicts, which led to a civil war in 1990.

[SOUND OF GUNSHOTS]

Over the course of the next few years, the violence escalated.

TIM LONGMAN: And in 1994, that culminated in a really terrible genocide that took place against the Tutsi.

TM: That’s Tim Longman, a professor of international relations and political science at Boston University.

TL: We estimate that 75 to 80% of the Tutsi population was killed.

TM: Rwandan filmmaker Aimée Umutoni experienced the genocide firsthand. She says it was harrowing to live through.

AIMÉE UMUTONI: The kids played together, went to church together. They had, you know, social relationships. But all of a sudden, your friends became, you know, your killer.

TM: As a child, she barely survived.

AU: I lost my parents. Both my parents. I lost a lot of family members. My siblings and me, we escaped. So I can tell you how horrible it is. Many people were… survived because of good neighbors who took risks, immense risks, to hide children.

[MUSIC]

TM: The genocide finally ended when the army of Tutsi rebels seized enough territory back, and took over the government.

TL: They were driven out by a group of Tutsi rebels who had been mostly refugees from earlier violence, who managed to take control of the country.

TM: The leader of that Tutsi insurgency, who is credited with ending the genocide, was a military general named Paul Kagame. He was trained in the U.S., and ultimately took power as the dust settled after decades of violence. He was elected president for the first time in 2000.

TL: And that’s the group that’s now in charge in Rwanda today.

TM: In the three decades since, under Kagame’s leadership, the country has undergone a major transformation. After the genocide, Rwanda received humanitarian and financial aid from the United States, Canada, and the World Bank.

Kagame’s goal was to transform Rwanda into a middle-income country by pivoting from an agriculture-based economy to a, quote, “knowledge-based” economy in just 20 years.
And the current government has made this history a part of its tourism industry. Sites like the Kigali Genocide Memorial attempt to keep the conflict front of mind for locals and visitors.

TL: It’s like, “We’re going to confront the genocide, we’re going to hold people accountable, we’re gonna have a bunch of trials, we’re going to build memorials and then we’re going to move on.” And so a lot of the emphasis in Rwanda has been on turning a new page and moving into the future and creating a new Rwanda.

TM: Now, Aimée is making a documentary explaining the conditions that led to the genocide.

AU: And I wanted to show, like, to show red flags of genocide: how it is thought, how it is formed, how people accept it, how people accept to kill, and how people accept to be killed. Because Belgians came and redefined who we were, and Rwandans accepted that new version that they were told.

TM: She hopes it will help people understand how the genocide overtook the country so quickly, to make sure it never happens again.

AU: We are now again one people. So my research is just to show that don’t let anyone come and define who you are. Know who you are, and stick to that.

TM: Mighty Popo is working on the same mission.

[SOUND OF KIDS SINGING]

He’s the principal of the Rwanda School of Creative Arts and Music, the country’s first public music school, so children have a place to create art and music that they feel represents them. He even started an international music festival called KigaliUp to celebrate the country’s music scene.

[SOUND OF LIVE MUSIC AT KIGALIUP]

JM: So I’m happy to be part of the, you know, this conscience, redevelopment and rehabilitation of the mind and of the soul. And just to rebuild the country, you know, like we said earlier, our contribution as artists is to make sure that, you know, art is back. You know, art is back in all levels of society, you know. Without art, without artists, the world would be boring. Can you imagine that world, without music, without dance, without film, hey, without the drums?

[MUSIC]

We would be dead people, you know. So it’s a survival of the human species.

TM: And he wants Rwanda’s growing number of visitors to experience it, too.

JM: People should visit Rwanda because it’s a beautiful country, first of all. And it’s a cradle of humanity. [Laughter] You know what I mean? Who wouldn’t want to come and visit? You should come and visit, you know, and just, see beautiful people, see beautiful country, get to, you know, get to enjoy.

TM: Coming up, how Rwanda’s government works today — and why its leaders chose tourism to help rebuild after the genocide.

[MIDROLL BREAK]

[MUSIC]

Welcome back to Peak Travel. I’m Tariro Mzezewa.

After the genocide, President Kagame’s government implemented an ambitious redevelopment plan called Vision 2020.

TL: They focused a lot on making Rwanda a tech hub. The idea was, they could be a Singapore. They’ve put a lot of emphasis on education and training people in computer skills and data processing and things like that.

TM: Tim says the government has helped people recover from the genocide. But when I asked him about this, he said the story of Rwanda’s development isn’t just that simple.

TL: There is a story that is too easy that I would push you to avoid, and that is to see Rwanda purely as the Phoenix that has risen from the ashes. There is a tendency for us to want to see a good story from Africa, because there’s so many bad stories that come out of Africa. The government that’s in power is a really competent government that does a lot of good things, so it should absolutely be recognized. But I think we can also at least mention that, you know, there are some people who have concerns over the authoritarian nature of the state.

[MUSIC]

TM: In the last few years, international organizations have found evidence of human rights violations in Rwanda, particularly against vocal opponents of the government. These include poor prison conditions, restrictions on journalism and media, and unlawful killings.

In January 2025, the U.N. accused Rwanda’s military of backing rebels in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, as they violently overtook the city of Goma and killed more than 2,000 people.

If the recent violence isn’t enough proof, Tim noted that president Kagame has also been in power for 25 years.

TL: In the last presidential election, the president won 99.2% of the vote, you know, which suggests to you that there’s not a lot of room for debate.

TM: There are plenty of real problems in Rwanda and in the region. But on the ground, many Rwandans who spoke with Hannah insist that the development of tourism has been good for them.

ARIELLA KAGERUKA: My name is Ariella Kageruka. I head the Department of Tourism at the Rwanda Development Board, currently speaking from Kigali, Rwanda.

TM: It’s Ariella’s job to attract tourists. And she says President Kagame’s plan has been successful — especially from an economic standpoint.

AK: So tourism is an important sector of Rwanda’s economy. It contributes significantly to revenues, to job creation in the country.

[MUSIC]

And in 2023, for instance, you know, the tourism industry generated over $620 million. And over time, for over 15 years, actually, the tourism sector has been the largest generator of foreign currency.

TM: At first, the main draw was ecotourism, specifically to see Rwanda’s famous gorillas. Nature-based tourism still makes up 80% of the country’s travel industry today.

AK: Early on, we started with, the industry was, anchored on, wildlife experiences based on our national parks.

TM: But the country hasn’t just relied on nature to build its travel sector.

AK: But with time, we had the tourism vision to diversify.

[SOUND OF ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE KIGALI CONVENTION CENTER]

KIGALI CONVENTION CENTER AD: Welcome to the Kigali Convention Center, the new addition to the city’s booming skyline as Rwanda is now establishing itself as the regional hub for conference tourism.

TM: Rwanda is also home to the most expensive building on the African continent: the Kigali Convention Center, built in 2016 to host events for some of the world’s largest organizations.

[MUSIC]

The country is renovating its airport, and collecting international investments into its airline, RwandAir. It boosted its internet connection. But Ariella will tell you, it doesn’t just take new infrastructure to create a destination. It also takes marketing.

AK: The country to be visited or to become an investment destination, it needs to be known. Rwanda was, for a long time, known for the tragedy of the genocide against Tutsi, 1994. That past had sort of overshadowed everything else that we’re doing. Our country needed to rebrand itself.

TM: The growth of Rwanda’s tourism sector has been hailed by people like Dzari Ranjato, a marketing executive at Sustainable Tourism Consultants.

DZARI RANJATO: I lived in Rwanda when I was younger, for three years, and I was just amazed by how they were able to develop their tourism.

TM: Dzari was impressed by Rwanda. Particularly when she compared it to her home country of Madagascar.

DR: It’s very clean. The streets are very clean, the people are just really great, and, I don’t know, I was just amazed by that as a little girl, seeing, like, an African country being able to recover so fast from the crisis for me was just very inspiring.

TM: To grow its tourism industry, the country’s marketing organization Visit Rwanda started collaborating with big hotel brands and companies.

DR: It became a very high-profile tourism campaign basically, and the whole objective was to increase the country’s visibility as a premium, like, travel destination.

TM: Rwanda’s most noticeable marketing strategy of all?

[SOUND OF SOCCER CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCEMENT]

ARSENAL FC SPOKESPERSON: And the Visit Rwanda brand will be seen on the shirtsleeves of all of our teams. So our men’s team, our women’s team, and also all of our academy teams.

TM: Since 2018, Visit Rwanda has partnered with three soccer clubs in Europe.

[SOUND OF SOCCER GAME]

[MUSIC]

During some of the biggest matches in the world, players on teams in London, Paris, and Munich wear jerseys with the Visit Rwanda logo slapped on their sleeves. About 2 million viewers worldwide watch each of those games. Ariella says the partnership was a no-brainer.

SOCCER GAME ANNOUNCER: Hits the shot on target!

[SOUND OF CROWD CHEERING]

AK: There is no better place to make an investment for country branding than in sports, because, as we all know, sports unites. Sports brings together all nations, all people of all ages, for the passion of sports. And therefore, we saw it very clear that that was the first place to start investing.

TM: Rwanda also has a partnership with the NBA. Using sports to market a destination might seem pretty commonplace now, but in 2018 when Rwanda did it, Dzari says it was integral to Kagame’s plan for Rwanda.

DR: That’s a very unique way of marketing a destination. And yeah, I don’t know why not a lot of people have thought about it. I really think it’s really, really creative, actually. The more you think about it, the more you understand why they did what they did.

TM: Rwanda’s officials have tried to keep the tourism industry sustainable, too.

AK: There are no concerns about overtourism in Rwanda because our choice was made very clear and very early on by taking a conservation-centered approach that made sure that tourism attracted sustainable investments, within conservation spaces, but also that it benefited conservation and people, first and foremost.

TM: While Rwanda’s development has received a lot of praise over the years, it’s also been just as strongly criticized. In recent weeks, government officials and fans around the world have denounced the country’s partnership with soccer clubs — accusing the teams of being complicit in Rwanda’s violence in the Congo.

During her time in Kigali, Hannah walked around Nyamirambo, a neighborhood that’s popular for tourists visiting the city.

HU: There’s an area where there’s very international, and then you’ll see, like, more of a diversity of, like, people, like, Asian tourists, white tourists, white people that have moved there, as well as, Black expats and immigrants as well.

TM: Hannah toured a women’s co-op there with its president, Marie Aimee Umugeni. She says the center’s mission is to give local women the opportunity to learn creative skills — and get paid for it.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

MARIE AIMEE UMUGENI: So here we are in the shop. Everything you can see here is made by the women in the cooperative, the cooperative which is created from those women who trained.

TM: Once the women progress in their craft, they can start selling their wares, like embroidered purses and handmade beaded jewelry.

MAU: Some they work by hand and others will use the machines. She will be making a pouch. We have zebra, we have gorilla. We have local materials like these sunhats are made from banana fibers.

We are really enjoying seeing visitors coming here, because if the center is here and it is sustainable, it is due to the tourism activity we are offering. And, Rwanda is also a good country. It’s a nice country. People, they would love to come and see our country, right? [Laughter] Yes.

[MUSIC]

TM: For the last several years, I’ve been interested in how places synonymous with conflict and tragedy use tourism as a tool to develop their economies. Croatia, Colombia, and Rwanda especially stand out to me because, just in my lifetime, they’ve gone from social or political instability to bucket-list stops for tourists all over the world.

That’s not to say these places are now perfect, or that tourism has benefited everyone there. On this show, we usually hear from residents who are fed up with overtourism, so it was refreshing to hear how travel has improved locals’ lives in Rwanda.

But it’s hard to tell Rwanda’s story — of the genocide and its recovery — without confronting the reality that over two decades, President Kagame has done two things at once: present Rwanda as Africa’s success story, and perpetuate authoritarianism and violence. It’s important to acknowledge both.

[MUSIC]

TM: Next time, on Peak Travel…

[SOUND OF CRUISE SHIP HORN]

Cruises are a dominant force in tourism, offering accessible and affordable vacations. But how do they change the communities where they dock?

KARLA HART: My life on a daily basis is impacted by the cruise industry.

TM: We’re going to cruise the Pacific to get to Hoonah, Alaska, where the booming industry has shaped the small town, for the better…

DENNIS QUAID: We did it, and it’s paid off in spades.

TM: … And for the worse.

ANDREW ENGELSON: It doesn’t feel, like, a native community anymore. It’s like Disneyland. It’s a theme park.

TM: That’s next time, on Peak Travel.

[MUSIC]

This is Peak Travel. I’m your host, Tariro Mzezewa.

Our executive producer is Tom Grahsler.

Our senior producer is Michael Olcott. Our producer is Michaela Winberg, and our associate producer is Bibiana Correa. We had production help on this episode from Hannah Uguru.

Our editor is Meg Driscoll. Original music by Catherine Anderson. Mixing and sound design by Emma Munger. Engineering by Al Banks, Charlie Kaier, and Diana Martinez. Our tile art was created by Nick Rogacki.

Peak Travel is a production of WHYY, distributed by PRX, and part of the NPR podcast network. Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, the iHeart Radio app — or wherever you get your podcasts.

Executive Producer: Tom Grahsler
Senior Producer: Michael Olcott
Producer: Michaela Winberg
Associate Producer: Bibiana Correa
Additional Production: Hannah Uguru
Editor: Meg Driscoll
Original Music: Catherine Anderson
Mixing and Sound Design: Emma Munger
Engineers: Al Banks, Charlie Kaier, Diana Martinez
Tile Art: Nick Rogacki

Peak Travel is a production of WHYY, distributed by PRX, and part of the NPR podcast network.