Hon. Martin Mugarra Bahinduka, the State Minister for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities has applauded the Uganda Uncovered team led by tourism enthusiast Irene Allen Namisango for marketing destination Uganda.
Presiding over the launch of the 4th edition of the Travel Writing Competition held at Sheraton Hotel – Kampala, Minister Mugarra noted that the competition creates a platform for talented writers to share their lived tourism experiences around Uganda which interest others to visit the highlighted destinations.
“I have known Uganda Uncovered for two years or so and I have witnessed this journey of growth. Many young people start up initiatives but they don’t put in the work to get results and grow but I think it’s evident that the Uganda Uncovered team is dedicated to this cause,” the Minister said.
He added, “I have seen a lot of young people here with a huge potential to write and market Uganda. This gives me a lot of hope that the tourism industry has a greater future. Having young people participating in this competition means the industry has diversified platforms to push out content that tells the Ugandan story. I want to encourage you to travel, have the experiences and the fun but also write about it, tell the story of the beauty Uganda is endowed with.”
He underscored the need to broaden information dissemination as regards Uganda’s tourism offerings noting that the more people hear about travel, the more interested they get and so do the stakeholders with decision making mandates such as budget allocations.
“We have had over one million Ugandans exploring the country in the last year from around 200,000 pre-covid. So clearly, being vocal about the tourism industry and marketing Uganda to the various categories of consumers is vital. We need to tell the Ugandan story, dissect how cheap it is to travel so that we encourage more Ugandans to travel. It is our responsibility to market Destination Uganda,” the Minister noted.
According to Namisango, the team leader at Uganda Uncovered, this year’s competition theme compliments responsible and sustainable tourism.
“When we talk about responsible tourism, there is no way we can leave out conservation because it makes up to 70% of what tourism thrives on. So, this year’s competition seeks to bring forth stories in that regard,” she said.
Namisango added that the competition aims at bridging the information gap in the tourism industry through content produced by Ugandan talents.
“The competition does not only look at rewarding the best travel writers but photographers as well. Our just unveiled Uganda Uncovered Magazine is one of the platforms where articles and pictures of previous participants are published,” she said.
Entry Submission
Writers participating in the 2024 edition of the travel writing competition will need to submit their entries before July 28th 2024.