Rwanda is beyond words

African nation could learn from Jiangxi province and invest more in tourism infrastructure and services that visitors need

Over the past 10 months, I have had the rare opportunity of exploring China's vast territory. By air, water, road and train, I have crisscrossed this gargantuan country and learned a lot about the nation and its people.

The locals who listened to my experiences in China's remotest areas are often envious of the amount of ground I have covered in a short spell of time. Well, these are rare opportunities that my job affords me. No wonder journalists are a respected lot here.

Over the past week, I was in East China's Jiangxi province. For the Chinese, this province, with a population about four times that of Rwanda, needs no introduction - it was the cradle of the Chinese revolution.

Its capital, Nanchang, was the birthplace of the People's Liberation Army. The imposing Jinggang Mountains was China's first rural revolutionary base.

With a forest cover of about 63 percent, the province is beautiful beyond any song dedicated to it. It is no wonder, therefore, that it has been selected as a main tourism province in China.

Home to the Tengwang Pavilion (one of China's three famous pavilions); Huangling, a popular destination known as the most beautiful village in China; Sanqing Mountain, with its unique landscape; Jingdezhen, known as the porcelain capital; and Donglin Temple, which has the world's tallest Buddha statue, Jiangxi province is minting billions in tourism income.

Last year alone, the province received over 32 million tourists, raking in 16 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) in tourism receipts. The extent to which tourism promoters in Jiangxi go to make a tourist's experience a memorable one is perhaps one area where African countries such as Rwanda could learn.

There is no doubt that Rwanda has taken giant strides toward unlocking its tourism potential. The annual gorilla-naming ceremony (Kwita Izina) is now on the world tourism calendar. Tourists have heard the call and responded. In 2013, the country hosted more than 1.3 million visitors that generated $294 million, according to the Rwanda Development Board.

I have been to 28 of Rwanda's 30 districts and, from my tourism experience in China, Rwanda will have to do more to enjoy a relatively big share of the tourism cake.

One area that needs to be addressed is how information about different tourist attractions is packaged and delivered. In this day and age, tourists need information about places they visit in all forms: audio, video and print. But there is little documentation about tourist spots in the country.

The same is true for many African countries trying to attract foreign tourists.

Information is largely delivered through word of mouth, and most times the message is lost in translation. At the many different tourist spots I visited in China, I nearly always carried home bundles of information detailing the history of the sites, whether in the form of print, video or audio.

Tourists need maps to be able to locate which areas they are visiting. Why is all this important? It is now not uncommon to find many tourists writing blogs about their experiences and sharing them on different social media platforms. So the information provided can actually be used to promote a tourism site in addition to enriching a tourist's experience.

There is need for more investment in tourism infrastructure and in services that tourists need. Two years ago while in Rwanda, I explored the Congo Nile Trail that took me through the districts of Karongi, Rutsiro and through to Rubavu. Beautiful scenery abounds but the lack of decent lodging, poor food, a lack of detailed route information and maps were major downsides to my five-day trek.

Tourism activities are supposed to be leisure undertakings, a time to relax and enjoy the beauty that nature provides. Most facilities are quick to provide a free Wi-Fi connection but they forget that this could be the very weapon that will be used against them if they provide poor service.

When tourists are dissatisfied, they will tell the world about it. It is easier to attract new tourists than it is to get them back, especially if they have had a bad experience. One bad experience can ruin the entire industry.

Tourists who come to Africa have perhaps been to other places. A Chinese tourist enjoying the canopy walk in Nyungwe rainforest in Rwanda will perhaps have been in a cable car to the top of Sanqing Mountain in Jiangxi. But what tourism managers in Nyungwe do to make the canopy walk a more memorable experience for tourists can make a big difference.

In this increasingly competitive sector, Africa, and Rwanda in particular, will have to put its best foot forward to survive and thrive.