Destination Kivu Belt partnership with dTravela

Kivu Belt Partners with Rwandan OTA Dtravela to Bring the Rwandan Tourism Market Online

dTravela, the Kigali-based travel tech software, has recently entered a partnership with Kivu Belt Destination Management Unit, the official tourist board of Southwestern Rwanda. The partnership positions Rwandan travel tech provider dTravela as the official booking solution of the Kivu Belt giving operators access to crucial technology.

The Kivu Belt Destination Management Unit is a part of Rwanda’s Chamber of Tourism with a vision to position the Kivu Belt as a globally competitive and sustainable destination for adventure- and eco-tourism. A key part of the Kivu Belt’s strategy is to ensure that the local experiences used in branding are also bookable online. Their partnership with dTravela will accelerate this process by giving operators in the Kivu Belt direct access to the market and the ability to scale up their business through the smart use of technology.  

Suppliers and local communities will be empowered to make their live inventory bookable on their own website and use a standardized booking system. To leverage this further, Kivu Belt Destination Management Unit will add booking capabilities to the Kivu Belt Travel Portal Kivubelt.travel. By collecting all products in one place, the Kivu Belt Destination Management Unit will be able to market the destination in an efficient way, generate more tourists and drive bookings to local companies.

Patrice Nostalgie, founder and CEO of dTravela, says:

“Kivu Belt Destination Management Units is leading the way for the sector in the Kivu Belt and in Rwanda. It is great to see a large regional Destination Management Organization going beyond using pretty pictures of local experiences and instead using technology to make them the key focus. Kivu Belt’s vision is very closely aligned with the philosophy and vision of dTravela. I am excited to see how the partnership will inspire to innovation and technology in the travel industry in Rwanda”.

By actively encouraging and enabling their local suppliers to use travel technology, the Kivu Belt Destination Management Unit is opening up the power of direct access to live inventory.

Henry Mugweri from the Kivu Belt Destination Management Unit comments on the partnership:

“We have been looking into a way of empowering local operators including local communities while achieving our vision of making the Kivu Belt a globally competitive and sustainable destination for adventure- and eco-tourism. After assessing the market, dTravela has been selected for their world class technology which also fits the local needs in the Kivu Belt.”

The choice from the Kivu Belt to partner up with a local travel tech provider stems in the industry’s need for a combination of local and global tools. dTravela is unique in the way they combine standard reservation technology with needs of the local Rwandan market such as payments and payouts in mobile money and a more conventional booking notification service in Kinyarwanda.

Through the partnership, members in the Kivu Belt will get access to preferential rates and free service from dTravela. The width of the partnership also ensures that smaller, but crucial actors such as community-based tourism providers can use technology to get access to new markets.

The partnership will complement the Kivu Belt Destination Management Unit’s mission to serve as a platform for actors in the Kivu Belt with the common goal of developing and promoting sustainable tourism. The partnership will also serve the Destination Management Unit’s activities of developing new tourist attractions and coordinating actors in the Kivu Belt.

Both dTravela and the Kivu Belt Destination Management Unit are confident that the partnership can provide an example for the wider Rwandan industry to follow.