Rwanda, a landocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge, a land with extraordinary biodiversity highlighted by an incredible wildlife living throughout its montane rainforest, its volcanoes and sweeping plains through its Parliament passed a bill to implement a tourism tax on accommodation.
On 28th April 2025, the Chamber of passed bill tourism tax which is expected to take effect on 1st July 2025, set at 3% of accommodation charges, exclusive of value added tax will apply to all registered accommodation businesses, including hotels, lodges, motels, apartments and Airbnb facilities.
The bill got unanimous approved by 70 MPs and this new tax is part of the NST2, the Government's National Strategy for Transformation which aims to position the country as a top - tier ecotourism destination and significantly increase tourism revenue from $620 million in 2023 as a baseline to $1.1 billion by 2029.
According to RDB, the Rwanda Development Board, government department that integrates all government agencies responsible for the attraction, retention and facilitation of investments in the national economy, Rwanda tourism economy grew by 4.3% to $647 million in 2024 compared to the performance of 2023.
The bill is intended to help fund NST2 objectives and strengthen domestic resource mobilisation to support the tourism sector growth, and the government indicated in the explanatory note of the bill.
Key provisions of the bill include that the accommodation businesses must register and remit the tax on a monthy basis. The tax should be paid within 15 days after the end of each month and it applies to both paid and outstanding accommodation fees.
The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Security MP Hope Tumukunde Gasatura, who analysed the bill said that no substantive changes were made to the overall structure of the bill tabled by the government.
A point of clarification was raised by MP Angelique Nyirabazayire focused on how the 3% tax would be applied to fees not yet received by the accommodation facilities.
The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee of Foreign Affairs explained that similar to VAT, the tax would, the tax would apply to all amounts, due, even if only part of the payment has been made in advance.
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Thanks a lot to read and note.