The Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) has held an engagement with top Kenyan tour operators to have the latter promote and popularize Ugandan tourism in Kenya, and to the international tourists that visit the East African Country.
The Kenyan tour operators have for the past week been moving around Uganda where they experienced Uganda’s beautiful scenery for promotion, such as the wildlife, the landscape, the culture, the foods, and different other experiences, for them to be able to understand from their own experience, and how they can be able to package Ugandan tourism for the Kenyan market, and for the rest of the markets where they would promote Uganda’s tourist attractions.
Speaking to the Kenya tour operators in Kampala on Saturday, the UTB Chief Executive Officer, Lilly Ajarova asked them to market Uganda’s tourism beyond Kenya since the East African country gets the biggest number of international tourists in the region.
“We ask our Kenyan counterparts to help us even beyond Kenya. You are doing business with the rest of the world, and we know that in the region, you get the biggest number of international arrivals. So, we hope that you will be able to add Uganda as one of your destinations on your standard itineraries that you sell in East Africa. We are from different countries, but East Africa is home. The more we start thinking as East Africans, the better for all of us. We need to begin talking about the East African Community. It will help us more, because people will know that there is more market in East Africa,” said Ajarova.
She added that there is a uniqueness about Uganda in terms of the diversity, such as wild life, landscape among others.
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 Kenyan tour operators described Uganda’s tourism as “amazing.”
The Managing Director – Africa Safaris, Eliud Oyalo said Uganda has various tourist attractions not found anywhere else in the world.
“I must say Uganda has a very good product. The tourism product you have here, I have never seen it anywhere else. Starting from the Namugongo experience, all through to the gorilla experiences, we have been to the Semuliki hot springs where you have the male and the female hot springs. It’s never been heard anywhere else. Talk about the tropical forests you have here, the chimpanzees. That is all that builds together a product that anyone would want to come and explore,” he said.
However, he added that Uganda’s extraordinary tourism products lack marketing, and advised all tourism stakeholders both in private and public sector to work together and sell Ugandan tourism abroad.
“You are lacking in a number of areas. One of them is marketing; you as the media houses, you need to expose Uganda because through you, we will be able to know that this and this exists. If you ask Kenyans now, the only thing they will tell you is Nyege Nyege [festival]. But, is that all you have? Talk about the experiences at the Semuliki, the hot springs you can never see anywhere else in the world. It is a small product, but if you talk about it, expand it and make it a more beautiful thing, make a sauna there, it could attract more tourists. If you build all that product, and you expose it, you will have a very important tourism component that will play at per with the likes of Kenya and Tanzania,” he said.
Oyalo challenged Ugandan authorities to improve on infrastructure leading to tourist attractions.
“There is some areas where roads heading to [national] parks are very narrow. The roads are very narrow, some of them are dilapidated. Go to the Bwindi National Park; the road up is not even graded, some areas if it rains, I don’t think you can even be able to pass, and yet we are paying for these gorilla permits. Why can’t you say, we get a portion of this to prepare the roads heading to this key area. Gorillas for Uganda is one of the key areas that is selling a lot. So, make road infrastructure amazing for people to drive there,” he said.
Furthermore, the Kenya tour operators noted that other areas that need improvement is quality of services especially in the hospitality sub sector.
Kenyan in terms of services in hospitality, is way ahead of Uganda.
In response, Ajarova promised to have service in the hospitality sub sector improved. Ajarova also promised to improve the marketing of Ugandan tourism.
“It is an area that we are going to be working on to improve our services and to also encouraged the tour operators inclusive of all Uganda, from their own experiences, to give a hand to Uganda Tourism Board when it comes to marketing. Kenyans have not left the marketing [of Kenyan tourism] only to Kenya Tourism Board. So all Ugandans need to be involved to shout loud about what Uganda is, what we have, the good things, the beauty that this country has, to be able to move forward in terms of giving a positive reputation for the destination for tourism,” she said.
The Uganda Tourism Board has divided the marketing strategy into four components, that is; the domestic market, the East African Community Market, the Africa market, and the International market.
On the East African and the African market, Kenya has been giving Uganda the highest number of arrivals into the country.
With this, Ajarova said UTB aims to strengthen the relationship with the Kenyan market by having a deal with Kenya tour operators to help further promote Ugandan tourism.
“Our objective is to increase the numbers, and have arrivals from all the markets, not just Kenya, but also the rest of the countries within East Africa. The rest of Africa and also International,” she said.
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