Kampala — THE hotel industry is ready for CHOGM. Tourism minister Serapio Rukundo says rooms have reached 4,700, "The requirement from the Commonwealth Secretariat was 4,000 rooms, but we now have an excess of 700. We want to have over 6,000 rooms by CHOGM time," Rukundo said recently.

He said the ministry would use the changes brought about by CHOGM to promote the tourism sector.

"I want each of Uganda's regions to have over 300 hotel rooms by 2010," Rukundo said.

He said information from Entebbe International Airport indicates that 2007 is destined to be a historical year in which the country will have received the highest number of tourists.

Rukundo said they contracted Utali College from Kenya to train hotel staff in Kampala, Mukono, Wakiso and Jinja districts in food preparation, administration and customer care.

He urged Ugandans to have a spirit of nationalism and collective responsibility to portray a good image of Uganda to the rest of the world.