Big bets laid on Rwanda's ambition to become a global conferences hub

Against the echoey soundtrack of building works, Ali Kashan, project manager of Rwanda's forthcoming - and long-delayed - Marriott hotel points towards a boarded up, large dusty door frame: "This is our ballroom," he announces.

There is a hint of triumph in his voice that is in keeping with Kigali's ambitious view of its future. "The entire vision of the country is to develop Rwanda as a hub for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions," says Frank Murangwa, of the Rwanda Convention Bureau, a state marketing agency that opened last year.

Rwanda is betting big on becoming a pan-African conference destination. Well-laid roads pass building project after building project across the capital, many of them hotels planning considerable conference facilities.

"Conference bookings come with capacity," says Mr Murangwa. "We need 20, 50 conferences [a year]. The more we get bigger hotels, the more we will attract more conferences."

Several of the conference-related projects are attracting big names, including a five-star Radisson Blu, a four-star Park Inn by Radisson and, for 2018, a Sheraton.

The five-star Marriott, where workers still heave sacks of cement about the grounds, plans to open this year with 254 rooms and gala conference facilities. The ballroom should be big enough for 187 people.

"This would be a big hotel anywhere in the world," says Mr Kashan, a Dubai-based contractor who had never before visited Africa. He is standing on a balcony looking down on to the pool area, where 500 workers are applying the finishing touches.

Of Rwanda's $305m tourism takings last year, conferences accounted for $49m. The aim is to raise that to $150m by 2017. Tourism is the biggest foreign exchange earner and the conference programme "can really be quick-win in terms of increasing our foreign exchange", says John Rwangombwa, central bank governor. "We expect that in the next three years we'll have yielded results."

Key to this is the expansion of RwandAir, the national flag carrier, in which the government has a 99 per cent stake. Its present 17 destinations and seven planes are expected to increase respectively to 25 and 14 over the next few years. Chief executive John Mirenge wants to fly a million passengers a year by 2019, double the number of today.

"The most important objective the government of Rwanda set itself when they were reinvesting in this airline was to provide accessibility to the country, to support the other service industries in the country - tourism, conference possibilities, meetings," says Mr Mirenge. "We have to connect ourselves to the rest of the world, especially as a landlocked country."

He adds that the expansion has "catalysed" the whole travel market and attracted international airlines such as KLM and Qatar to land in Kigali.

Rwanda aims to lure dollars out of the pocket of every conference-goer, with activities ranging from evening entertainment to weekend gorilla treks. "Conference delegates here in Rwanda spend $245 each per day but internationally it's $665," says Mr Murangwa, wistfully comparing Kigali with the likes of Vienna, Berlin, Paris and Barcelona, as well as Africa's top conference destinations in Egypt, Kenya and South Africa.

Many projects remain far behind schedule, for example, the $300m Kigali convention centre, which Rwanda issued its debut $400m bond on the international markets to fund.

The crane towering above the capital's great spherical hope stands abandoned beside one of the main roundabouts. This follows an argument with the Chinese contractor, which Rwanda is taking to court.

When Rwanda hosted the annual African Development Bank meetings last year - a coup for the small country - it was forced to use tents for meetings and private villas to accommodate some 2,500 visiting delegates.

Rwanda's cast-iron security is a plus, however, not least after terror attacks suffered by Kenya. In November, Kigali hosts the annual general assembly of Interpol, the international police network. "Safety has been our number one selling point," says Mr Murangwa.

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