Rwanda bets on Formula 1, sports deals to boost tourism
Rwanda is pushing ahead with its bid to be added to the lucrative Formula 1 race calendar as part of a wider drive to double down on sports events as a central plank of its economic growth plan.
Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe told Semafor Africa Rwanda is still in talks with Formula 1 concerning its bid to host the sport’s first race in Africa since the 1993 South African Grand Prix. He said Rwandan authorities were working with other countries that already host races to learn from their experiences.
“We’re interested — it would be a good thing for the sport itself and Rwanda,” he said. “We have demonstrated the capacity to host big sporting events.”
Nduhungirehe, in a wide-ranging interview, said that multimillion-dollar investments in facilities, partnerships with sports federations, and sponsorship deals with top European football teams including England’s Arsenal and France’s Paris St Germain was driving tourism.
Rwanda will host the cycling world road championships next year. It has also partnered with the NBA’s Basketball Africa League, hosting key games at the BK Arena in the capital, Kigali.
Nduhungirehe said the focus on hosting major sporting events helped to drive tourism revenue, which stood at $636 million in 2023 — a 36% increase on the previous year. Rwandan officials said tourism revenue in 2024 already stood at $448 million in September.
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The East African country has in the last six years signed sponsorship deals with footballing giants Arsenal, PSG, and Bayern Munich to advertise its Visit Rwanda tourism campaign.
Nduhungirehe said the deals had “paid off.” He said that within one year of signing the first of those deals, with London football club Arsenal in 2018, the number of tourists visiting Rwanda rose by 17%. And, he added, the United Kingdom became the second biggest contributor of tourists, up from fifth.
Alexis’s view
Rwanda’s focus on sporting events highlights the country’s ability to leverage the value of investing in sport and, more broadly, tourism in general. Its strategy involves building world class infrastructure to host people travelling for pleasure or business in the form of roads, hotels, and conference facilities.
President Paul Kagame’s government has set itself up to profit from the passion of fandom. And it’s filling a gap in the market, given the relative dearth of elite sporting venues on the continent. At the same time, the advertising partnerships with sporting teams is spreading global awareness of the country as a tourist destination. And the government has consciously maximized its appeal since making visas on arrival available for all international visitors in 2018. All African nationals have been able to enter Rwanda without a visa since November 2023.
Other African countries boast beautiful beaches or host safaris. Some, like Kenya, offer both. But landlocked Rwanda clearly understands that people also travel for work — and for the thrill of watching live sport. Other countries could learn from this template.
Room for Disagreement
Critics have repeatedly accused Rwanda of using sport to distract from what they say is the country’s poor human rights record. In August, US Senators Marsha Blackburn and Jeff Merkley sent a bipartisan letter to the NBA, accusing them of “putting profit over principle” through their ties with the Rwandan government. It followed a report by ESPN.
Wenzel Michalski, a representative of Human Rights Watch, said Bayern Munich made “a very, very bad choice” in forging a five-year partnership with Rwanda in 2023.
Notable
World motorsport’s governing body, the FIA, will host its annual prize-giving gala in Kigali on Dec. 13, marking the first time it will be staged in Africa. The event is set to be attended by stars and officials from various motor racing categories, including Formula 1.
This story originally appeared on Semafor.