Tonyx Hotel Suites and Spa on Saturday 5TH and Sunday 6TH September 2020 will launch the opening of the hotel in Koforidua Effijase. The two days event will have attendees entertained from live performances from some big names in the Ghanaian music scenes and appearances of some industry people to grace the event.

The hotel is strategically located in the Eastern Region of Ghana’s capital, Koforidua, the hotel will be managed by the qualified and experienced management team who will provide the best services to clients.

The ultra-modern hotel and Spa projected to open from September 5, 2020 consist of spacious suites, fully-functional kitchens, with leisure facilities such as a spa, pool, and a state-of-the-art fitness center, The Tonyx Hotel, and Spa will also have distinctive culinary experiences, restaurants, and a Bar.

According to the management, they are inviting the public to come and be part of their history as well as having the best experiences with their services.

Back in time, the story of a cursed Lord. At The Khong Long lake in Bueng Khong Long District, Bueng Kan province, Thailand; There was all land before the lake was found (refer to the story). It is the location of a city named Rattapa Nakhon, the city ruled by a Lord named Ue-Lue. The Lord’s wife called Gaewganlaya and his daughter named Kiewkam which later married the Sampanta Lord. Kiewkam and Sampanta had a son named Fahoong (or Fahung)

Fahoong was an intelligent and a handsome man. One day he accidently met a beautiful lady in middle of nowhere, her name was Nakkarintrani. Because of her beauty, it wasn’t difficult for him to fall in love with her. It was love at first sight, their feeling for each other was like they had known each other for ages. They made time to meet each other often, until he can’t wait no more. He asked her to marry him and move to stay with him in the palace.

Nakkarintrani was very happy to know that Fahoong loved her and wanted to marry her, but she was afraid if Fahong won’t loved her after he knew she isn’t a human. Nakkarintrani is a serpent or naka. She transformed herself into a women look because she saw him at first and wanted him to be impressed.

Nakkarintrani went back to the Nakarat Kingdom and told her father about marrying Fahoong who was a human. The Naka’s Lord was worried about his daughter because there was not even one time that Naka will have successful relationship with human. Anyway, the Lord couldn’t stop his daughter from her love power.

The wedding was arranged as a huge ceremony for 7 days in both Rattapa Nakhon and the Nakarat Kingdom. To approach the greatness and relationship between the two kingdoms, The Naka’s Lord gave a heraldry crown jewel to the Lord Ue-Lue and asked the Lord Ue-Lue and people in Rattapa Nakhon to take care of Nakkarintrani while no one in Rattapa Nakhon knew that Nakkarintrani is a daughter of the King of naka.

3 years later, Fahoong and Nakkarintrani still had no baby because the nature of serpent and human cannot breed together, that caused of the suffering for both of them. Nakkarintrani got very sick, so she transformed back to be snake. A servant came in and saw Nakkarintrani becoming a snake, she screamed with the fear and ran away.

The story of Nakkarintrani becoming a snake went viral, people in Rattapa Nakhon and the Lord Ue-Lue were very upset about Nakkarintrani was a Naka. She tried to transform herself back to a human look but it couldn’t help to calm the situation. People including the Lord Ue-Lue deprecated Nakkarintrani.

Nakkarintrani was evicted mindlessly. The Lord Ue-Lue sent a letter to the Naka’s Lord to come and take his daughter back. Fahoong felt really depressed that he couldn’t help his lover.

The Naka’s Lord who loved his daughter for his life, got very angry at people in Rattapa Nakhon for treating his daughter in that way. He came to pick his daughter up and asked for the heraldry crown jewel back. The Lord Ue-Lue couldn’t give it back because he already used it for making something else. That even multiplied the anger for the King of Naka, he shouted out loud that he will come back with his warriors to destroy Rattapa Nakhon become disappeared.

At the same night, the King of Naka went back to Rattapa Nakhon with his warriors, they destroyed Rattapa Nakhon and killed Rattapa Nakhon people. No one could fight the Naka power, Rattapa Nakhon was drown underwater becoming the Khong Long lake. The Lord Ue-Lue was cursed to become a Naka and couldn’t go out of Khong Long land, until The Khong Long will again become a big city.

Nakkarintrani didn’t know that her father would destroy the city, she went there after the war to find her lover, Fahoong. She was looking for him from Khong Long lake to Song Khram river but couldn’t find him. She went home with sadness.

By the way, the nakas didn’t destroy all the places in Rattapa Nakhon, there were 3 temples that weren’t destroyed; Wat Gaew Fah (Wat Don Gaew), Wat Pho Thi Sat (Wat Don Pho), and Wat Dan Sawan (Wat Don Sawan).

There is a riverbed called “Huay Nam Mao” that connects Khong Long lake to Song Khram river. Nam Mao refers to alcohol drinks that compares to the love that Nakkarintrani had for Fahoong which made her became blind or drunk.

The Giant Naka rocks are located in Phu Langka National Park, Bueng Kan, Thailand.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will collaborating with Ghana, Nigeria and 52 other partners for its multi-city tourism walk show dubbed “Dubai Tourism”.

According to a statement signed by the Head of Campaigns, Africa, Mr Salim Dahman, the roadshow would kick off from February 24 to March 2, across key cities in Ghana and Nigeria to further increase its promotional efforts of the city’s “ever-evolving tourism proposition to African tourists.”

Mr. Dahman said, the 52 partners will spread across hospitality, entertainment, and retail sectors and will interact with key trade partners in Ghana and Nigeria.
The Dubai Tourism roadshow 2020, will Kickstart in Accra, Ghana on 24 February; followed by Abuja, Nigeria on 26 February, Port Harcourt on 28 February and Lagos on 2 March.”

“The roadshow will highlight Dubai’s affordable experiences and the diversity of the city’s offerings to key travel partners in the West African region; spanning across travel, accommodation, entertainment and citywide events, with a focus on family travel.

“Key elements of the event will include breakout network sessions, partner presentations, one-to-one meetings, an education session and Dubai Expert certifications and a briefing update on Expo 2020″

The African region is of significant importance to Dubai and we will continue strengthening our relationships and developing strategic activities in this fast growing market. “The upcoming road show gives us the opportunity to reach out to all of our key partners, to align on future trade opportunities and ensure Dubai continues to remain front of mind for African travelers. “We will continue to be present throughout the year and aim to steadily increase the number of partners we bring with us each year to this landmark roadshow,” he added.

KIGALI – RWANDA, Wednesday February 19, 2020/www.gbafrica.net/ – Since the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Rwanda has risen from $752million to $9.5 billion in 2018, and the GDP per capita has grown from $125.5 to $787 during the same period. Due to Rwanda’s internationally recognized universal access to healthcare policy called ‘Mutelle de Sante’ life expectancy has risen from 29 years in 1994 to 67 years in 2016. Inflation has fallen from 101% in 1995 to 1.1% in 2018 and Rwanda has jumped over 100 places in the World Bank Doing Business Index, today ranking 38th globally and 2nd in Africa.

Furthermore, with the 9 Year Basic Education policy, Rwanda has seen the average expected years of schooling rise from 6.2 years in 1995 to 11.2 years in 2017. These numbers, both the increases and decreases, are not merely statistics on paper, they reveal a people who have taken the reins of destiny into their own hands. Following the defeat of the genocidal forces by the Rwanda Patriotic Army rebels led by now president, Paul Kagame, many highly qualified development experts believed that the fabric of Rwandan society was irrevocably torn asunder. Over one million people had been killed in less than 100 days, over 3 million had fled the country to refugee camps in Tanzania, Burundi and the DRC (then Zaire), the national treasury was looted and there weren’t even pens and paper in government departments.

Speaking to members of the Australian chapter of the YPO (Young Presidents Organization) in May last year President Kagame was asked this question, “experts say that a turnaround from a cataclysmic event such as genocide is supposed to take a century or at least a generation, how was Rwanda able to do so in only twenty years”? President Kagame mentioned the main aspects of the Rwandan turnaround; thinking big, having a vision, refusing to get stuck in the status quo, believing in, and having faith in the vision and, lastly, making sure that the journey is inclusive by bringing people in and creating possibilities for them to make their contribution.

Rwanda does not have the usual ingredients for economic transformation. It does not have a wealth of natural resources such as oil or diamonds, it is landlocked, it has one of the highest population densities in the world. However, Rwanda has a will to build a better, more prosperous nation.

What Rwanda did was put together a development plan called ‘Vision 2020’. This plan envisioned a Rwanda that was middle-income and knowledge-based. With a GDP growth rate which was dominated by double digits over the last 10 years, we are reaping the fruits of the ambitious plan.

One of the fruits is the emerging MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and events) sector. Who could have imagined that 25 years after the Genocide against the Tutsi, Rwanda would become home to one of the most iconic and most expensive buildings in Africa, the KCC (Kigali Convention Center)? The KCC, a venue that includes a five-star hotel and conference facilities that can host over 5,000 delegates, will this year host, among other world class events, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). To date, KCC has hosted the African Union Heads of State summit, the Transform Africa summit as well as a myriad of regional and international events and conferences.

The KCC has not been the only such ‘out of the box’ investment that the Government of Rwanda has made to create value where no one expected. A decade or so ago, the Government insisted on building the country’s very first five-star hotel, the present-day Kigali Serena hotel. Our development partners baulked at the investment, saying that there was no need for such a high-end facility. The Government, believing in its vision, went ahead and built the hotel thereby creating the anchor accommodation facility that opened Rwanda to the opportunity of becoming a regional destination for business travel and MICE. The country now has five 5-star hotels and more are opening up this year. Furthermore, high end accommodation establishments have opened their branches across different parts of Rwanda. To create the ecosystem that a vibrant MICE sector needed, the national carrier Rwandair was established, investments in skills and capacity building were made and the private sector was encouraged and supported to invest in the sector.

Because the Government refused to take a laissez-faire attitude to the development of the MICE and the overall tourism sector, investments that we have registered in the sector as the Rwanda Development Board have totaled $1.5 billion since the year 2000. Hotel rooms have increased from 623 in 2003 to 14, 866 in 2018, tourism revenues have jumped from $131 million in 2006 to over $300 million with MICE tourism revenue numbers growing from inconsequential numbers in 2000 to $55 million in 2018. We expect that all the numbers will grow by at least 10% per year and projections show that the tourism sector will be worth $800 million by the end of 2024.

This might seem ambitious, but we believe in our vision and we are actively working towards fulfilling it. That is why we partnered with different partners, including but not limited to Arsenal FC and Paris Saint Germain, English and French football teams respectively, to market Rwanda as a destination for tourism, MICE and investment. That is why Rwandair is increasing both its fleet as well as its destinations in Africa, North America, Europe and Asia and that is why we are currently building a new international airport in Bugesera, on the outskirts of Kigali, in partnership with Qatar. In addition, we have taken an active role in building an Africa that freely trades with itself through the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACTFA) and internally we have reformed both our business environment and visa regimes.

The business community has followed our lead. Last year, we registered over $2.4 billion in investments on the back of over 8% GDP growth. Leading global businesses such as Volkswagen, Motorola Solutions, Andela and Radisson today provide jobs to young Rwandans graduating from global institutions of learning that are based in Rwanda such as Carnegie Mellon University. In addition to the recent opening of the first smartphone factory by Mara Phones; companies including Volkswagen (in partnership with Siemens), Ampersand, and Safiride are also rolling out environment friendly transport solutions through electric vehicles and motorcycles on the street of Kigali and other parts of Rwanda.

When we tell businesses that Rwanda is the right place to invest in, we are confident that they will find the right environment to thrive. Why? Because we built that environment.

Mr. Zephanie Niyonkuru is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, the
Rwanda Development Board. The Rwanda Development Board is a one stop
shop for investors, bringing business registration, investment
promotion, tourism, ICT development, SMEs, human capacity development,
privatization and specialist agencies under one institution.

– Zephanie Niyonkuru

(Source: Forbes Africa)