Uganda’s Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Professor Ephraim Kamuntu, says the country is targeting UGX10 trillion (€1.9 billion) from tourists.
Kamuntu made the statement while announcing this year’s World Tourism Day festivities, which will take place in Jinja on September 27.
Tourism brought in €1.16bn in 2015, and contributes about 10% to Uganda’s GDP.
Kamuntu said: “We have lots of diversity which other countries do not have. We need to take advantage of this and market ourselves,” reported New Vision’s John Agaba.
After a successful marketing campaign that almost doubled the number of UK and US visitors to the country last year, the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) aims to further capitalise on its strategy to attract more tourists.
John Ssempebwa, Deputy CEO of UTB, said: “Initially, we relied on two- or three-day exhibitions, where we would camp in the countries (UK, US and Germany) to showcase Uganda’s beauty, but then realised a better strategy,” reports New Vision.
According to Ssempebwa, the one-on-one marketing strategies are proving to be a success, as there have been more articles about the country in the English press, and more agents are recommending Uganda to clients.
As a result of the public relations work, Ssempebwa said the number of tourists from the US had increased from 45 000 in 2016 to 90 000 last year. “The number of tourists from Germany increased from about 10 000 to 14 000 over the same period.”
However, he said they did not register a significant increase from the UK, due to Brexit. According to Ssempebwa, now that the euro has stabilised, the UTB was starting to realise an increment from the UK.
He said the government had called for bids from prospective PR firms to market the country, adding: “China is a huge partner for Uganda’s transformation.” The President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, who is in China to attend the China-Africa Cooperation Forum, would also market the country, said Ssempebwa.
“We are targeting Indians. Mahatma Gandhi requested that his ashes be scattered at the source of the River Nile in Uganda. So, we have a good place to start.” He said the UTB spent about UGX6.4bn (€1.47 million) on the three PR firms, but intends to spend less on new contracts.
He said they would also continue marketing in the UK, US and Germany.
