Tourism product development means bringing new and innovative products, experiences, and services to the market for tourists to buy. Product development can take many forms. For example, you have identified a gap in the current marketplace and decide to develop a product or experience to meet the demand. Product development could mean developing a product or experience that is already being offered in the area but is new to your business. Or, if you are already a tourism operator, you may be looking to expand your existing tourism offerings to include additional services, experiences, or tangible products such as souvenirs. There are many stages of product development, but they all begin with identifying a need in the marketplace. Once you have identified the need for a particular product, you will want to come up with a concept or idea. You will then want to create a plan for how you will bring your idea to life.
Rwanda is willing to develop a vibrant tourism sector through crafting new strategies, building better capacities, creating new products and attracting bigger investments. These deliberate efforts have begun paying off as reflected in the growth of tourism receipts from USD26m in 2005 to $404m in 2017 and the ambition was to reach to $800 million by 2024. Despite the fact that COVID-19 has lowered the tourism arrivals and revenues respectively all over the world with Rwanda receiving only up to USD 121m by 2020, developing new products still a key concern in Rwanda tourism industry.