BUJUMBURA February 1st (ABP) – The Minister of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Audace Niyonzima, in collaboration with the Minister of Trade, Transport, Industry and Tourism, Mrs. Chantal Nijimbere, held on Tuesday, January 31, 2023 in Bujumbura, a meeting for hotel owners to implement the National Tourism Policy, aimed at improving that sector.
The Minister of Finance, Audace Niyonzima, indicated that hotels are part of the export and asks the owners of those establishments to open accounts in foreign currencies from this month of February, in order to support the government of Burundi in its tourism development policy. Billing for foreigners in Burundian hotels will now be in foreign currency, he insisted. “The objective is to know how many tourists have entered our country and how long they will spend in Burundi,” said the Commissioner General in charge of migration, Maurice Mbonimpa.
Minister Niyonzima said the decision comes into effect today and February is considered a “witness month” to check the number of tourists who have entered the country and the amount of foreign currency collected by each hotel.
Minister Nijimbere said that those strategies come from the perspective of recovering the currencies of tourists who come to visit Burundi.
The Commissioner General for Migration, Maurice Mbonimpa, reported that a platform has already been set up so that all tourists who want to come to Burundi can apply for a visa online. On the same occasion, Mr. Mbonimpa also specified that a section of hotels will be added to that platform to allow close monitoring of all registration operations of tourists entering a particular hotel.
The representative of the chairperson of the sectoral House, hotels and tourism of Burundi, Herman Ndayisaba, specified that in order to support the tourist sector in Burundi, the roads which lead to many tourist sites located in the interior of the countries should be put in good condition. According to him, tourism must be coordinated and directed by an autonomous organization in its management which would have the supervision of the Ministry of Trade so that the hotels attract a lot of customers and to make the tourism sector fluorescent, Herman Ndayisaba insisted. Recall that a meeting is scheduled for the end of February to analyze together the impact of that measure.