Following the successful launch of Bird watching earlier in September this year, Rwanda is adding cave tourism to its menu of offerings.

According to Ms. Rosette Rugamba, the director general of ORTPN, Rwanda's national tourism body, cave tourism will be launched by year end to tap more revenue from tourists.

Tourism is the third biggest foreign exchange earner in Rwanda.

Rugamba also revealed that her country is also pushing for the construction of seven new hotels to cater for the increased number of tourists.

"We made a promise to our visitors that we shall uplift the levels of our accommodation," she told East African Business Week at the four-day World Travel Market (WTM) that ended November 15 in London, UK.

Cave tourism has over the years become popular across the world. In China for example, the cave resorts receive over 40 million tourists from home and abroad annually and play a very important role in the country's tourism industry.

Fifteen percent of the world's bird species, according to Rwanda officials are found in the Eastern African region with 44 of the 650 bird species in the country only found in Rwanda.

At the WTM fair that attracted 50,000 visitors and 5,402 exhibitors from more than 200 regions and countries, the five East African countries in collaboration with the East African Secretariat agreed to market East Africa as a single tourist destination.