Internationalization and Economic Growth of Rwandan Hotel Industry, a Case Study of Park Inn by Radisson – Kigali

William Mudahemuka
John Ntahemuka
University of Tourism, Technology and Business Studies, Rwanda
Correspondent Author: williamuda@gmail.com

Abstract: This study aims to assess the contribution of internationalization to the economic growth of hotel industry of Rwanda with a case study of Park Inn by Radisson Kigali. The study was guided by the following objectives: To determine the factors influencing international trade, to determine the impact of internationalization to the commercialization, to identify the challenges faced by internationalization and to suggest the possible solutions to the challenges faced by internationalization in Park Inn by Radisson Kigali. The questionnaires were distributed to 110 sampled employees during data collection. Data was organized, coded and entered into SPSS Software for cleaning and analysis. The study established the following findings: the major factor influencing internationalization is profit maximization at 52%. 47% responded customer needs change as a major challenge that is mostly faced in internationalization. The study revealed different solutions to overcome the internationalization challenges. The contribution of international trade to the commercialization is financial performance with 39.4% of the respondents. The study concludes that internationalization stimulates business travel and contributes to networking at the individual, business, and at national levels. It is recommended that the hotel industry trains the employees to satisfy customers according to their needs in order to enhance different products through employee innovation, the government should continue to improve infrastructure for facilitating the internationalization businesses.