The domestic tourism Christmas campaign dubbed “Explore Elgon” has kicked off.
The campaign which started on Tuesday, December 20, and scheduled to run up to December 23, 2022, aims to showcase and promote the unique attractions in the Elgon Region while inspiring Ugandans to travel during this year’s Festive Season.
On their way to the Elgon region, domestic tourists, majority of whom are young Ugandans had a stop over at the magnificent Source of Nile bridge in Jinja which is one of the country’s tourism sites.
Speaking to the locals and leadership of Elgon in Mbale City on Tuesday evening, the Minister of State for Tourism, Martin Mugarra said tourism does not have to focus only on safari, noting that Elgon region has a lot of potential for cultural tourism such as the imbalu (circumcision) festivities.
“We are not only here to visit and have fun, we are going to explore in consultation with you the leadership. And after all this, we shall sit together and see what needs to be done to promote and champion Mbale as a tourism destination. That’s the reason we are here; explore all the different avenues, profile all the historical sites as it is ought to be, so that the story of these areas can easily be told or shared with ease.”
Elgon region is gifted with enormous tourist attractions such as mount Elgon, the Sipi Falls in Kapchorwa district, the Wanale falls among others which government is fronting to promote domestic tourism.
The Government’s move to promote domestic tourism comes to bridge the plunge caused by huge cuts of international arrivals caused by COVID-19 pandemic outbreak that led to the closure of economies around the world.
At the beginning of this year President Museveni launched Uganda’s new destination brand dubbed “Explore Uganda, the Pearl of Africa” with the aim to boost tourism in key and emerging markets around the world and domestic tourism.
Spearheaded by the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) – the Government’s destination marketing organization, “Explore Uganda, the Pearl of Africa” is one of the strategies to recover from the effects of the pandemic.
The new brand has a component of domestic tourism in which Ugandans are encouraged to explore their country in what government calls the beauty of the Pearl.
Despite the COVID-19 challenge, Mugarra said Uganda’s tourism industry is recovering faster than any other country on the continent.
“What we are doing now is to promote domestic tourism. In the entire Africa, there is no country that is recovering out of COVID-19 faster than Uganda. We are the only country now that has surpassed the tourism visitation numbers to National Parks pre COVID-19 yet we even had a small problem of Ebola. We are saying, the only way we can have a more resilient tourism sector is by promoting the domestic tourism component, by encouraging Ugandans to travel,” he said.
According to Mugarra, the growth of the domestic tourism component pre COVID-19 and today, has grown by over 51.5%.
This is mainly a contribution made by the Ugandan young people since 78% of the country’s population is below the age of 30, and according to the Minister, the young population is going to be the future investors in the tourism sector.
To have a sustainable tourism sector, Mugarra said the industry captains must instill the culture of travel among the population.
“Of the domestic travelers in Uganda, the young population takes 95%. 50 plus year takes 0.5% yet they have the money.”
Meanwhile, the Minister noted the necessary infrastructure to promote tourism in the Elgon region has come.
“A lot of infrastructure has come up in Mbale that makes it conducive for any person to come and get the first class kind of service that you would expect to get in any other part of the country.”
Government, he said has made it very easy for Ugandans to participate in the hospitality sector by giving tax exemptions
“As you know, tax exemptions when it comes to construction of hospitality centers or hotels. Most of the appliances we use are tax free. If you want to buy a boat, it’s tax free, if you want to buy a vehicle, you will be able to get a tax exemption. So government has been able to put in place a number of places that can facilitate the growth of the tourism sector.”
Unlike other sectors, the Minister said tourism is a private sector led, noting that the Government’s role is to provide an enabling environment for players to drive the sector smoothly.
“And that is what government is supposed to do; to create the infrastructure that makes it easy for everyone to access every part of this country. So I want to add my commitment that I will go and push the voice to make sure that we have this road [21km from Mbale High Court] done to improve movement within this beautiful Mbale City.”
The Explore Elgon campaign has attracted various celebrities, including; musician, Sheebah Karungi, boxing champion, Moses Golola, Comedians, Madrat and Chiko among others.