A delegation of tour operators from Kenya are in the country for a 5 day visit to experience Uganda’s tourism diversity, engage with Uganda tour operators on joint packages and conclude on a Memorandum of Understanding between the Kenya Coast Tourism Association and the Uganda Tourism Association.
The Kenyan tour operators, on this 5-day visit, are taking a familiarization trip to explore Uganda to market its tourism abroad.
The familiarization trip comes following the conclusion of the Uganda – Kenya coast tourism conference, exhibition and trip in Mombasa and the Kenya Coast which closed on Sunday.
Speaking at the ceremony to welcome Kenyan tour operators in Kampala, Dorcus Rukundo, the Business Development Manager at Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) highlighted a number of Uganda’s tourism products which she said are unique, and always attract the attention of the international arrivals.
“I want to assure everyone that you will see the gorillas. They are the most beautiful creatures you can ever find because we (humans) share 98.3% of DNA with the gorillas. We also have the chimpanzees. We share 98.7% of DNA with the chimpanzees. We are closer to the chimps. The chimps are our brothers, the gorillas are our cousins,” she said.
Rukundo assured the Kenyan visitors that each one of them would have access to any of the Uganda’s national parks of their choice.
The best way to market Uganda’s tourism abroad, she said is when the visitors get first hand information about the country’s beautiful scenery, and primary knowledge about tourism products that Uganda offers.
“You are going to have time with chimpanzees. You are going to see how they sing, and how they look after their babies. When you go to Queen Elizabeth, there is so many birds. On Kazinga Channel, we have so many birds. I want to invite you to take the boat cruise, and see the bird life that we have in this country. I want to give assurance that you are going to enjoy this country. Uganda’s tourism is nature based, and you will realize that Uganda is more green than where you are coming from [Kenya]. Uganda has cooler weather than where you are coming from.”
The East African region, she said is unique in it’s way, with an amazing geographical landscape, and added if all players in the region marketed it together, it would attract more arrivals, and turn it into one of the most visited destinations on the planet.
“A tourist from USA, Austria etc will find a very beautiful experience in East Africa, and they can go and talk about us as the East Africa’s destination. Let us work together, let us compliment each other.”
Uganda boasts of unique natural, cultural and historical attractions in the world. For example, 54% of the Mountain gorillas in the world are found in Uganda.
Apart from the Big Five; lion, leopard, giraffe, elephant and giraffe, travellers track and habituate the mountain gorillas and chimpanzees.
With that, Uganda positions itself as the key destination for maintain gorillas.
Uganda is a home for 1,090 bird species, which is 50% of the bird species in Africa.
Tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors in Uganda. The sector earned the country over USD$1.6 billion in 2018 compared to USD$1.45 in 2017, accounting for 7.7% of the national GDP.
Further, Uganda has more primates species than any other country in the East African Community region and Europe, and is home to the source of the Nile, the world’s longest river.
The Director, Policy and Business Development at Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU), Dr Julius Byaruhanga said tourism is among the 12 sectors under PSFU’s portfolio that the latter is boosting to triple it’s contribution to Uganda’s growth.
“At PSFU, under our portfolio, we have 12 sectors of the economy, but tourism is one of the sectors where we are putting much effort to make sure that the GDP contribution of tourism is tripled. One of our key objectives is to make sure that tourism is promoted domestically, regionally and internationally,” he said.
Byaruhanga added that PSFU, working together with government and the World Bank are working on a project to promote Uganda as a one of the best tourist destinations.
PSFU has supported skilling of Ugandans in Uganda Hotel and Tourism Training institutes, Uganda museum and the Uganda Tourism Association (UTA) to ensure that tourism is the job of the private sector to promote.
“When we see the sector growing, that is our pride,” Byaruhanga said.
The Consul General of Uganda in Mombasa, Ambassador Paul Mukumbya they aim to create synergies and complementarity between the Uganda and Kenya Coast tourism players; create more awareness about the two destinations and the tourism products they offer; enhance the synergies between key tourism players from Uganda and the Kenya coastal region; explore the opportunities in joint marketing of the tourism products of the coastal region and Uganda; equip the key tourism players from Uganda and the Kenya coastal region with first-hand experience of the key tourism attractions so that they are in better position to market these attractions; and to promote and popularize the Entebbe – Mombasa route operated by the Uganda Airlines.