Amos M.wekesa
26 October 2009
opinion
It would be very unfair not to be grateful to the government of Uganda for putting tourism, for the first time, as a national priority for the coming years.
Uganda Tourism Association attributes the change of events to the Minister of Trade and Industry, Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire and the Minister of State for Tourism, Mr Serapio Rukundo, both of who have tirelessly consulted the private sector to find out how Uganda can attract more tourists and therefore create more jobs just like our neighbours Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda have done.
Uganda had started losing the number one spot as the mountain gorilla destination (which brings in millions of dollars and creates jobs for hundreds of Ugandans) to our neighbour Rwanda because of Rwanda's impressively aggressive marketing strategy.
The campaign tagged 'Friend-A-Gorilla' has created the best international
publicity Uganda has ever had. There is no serious international media that didn't feature that campaign. These include USA TODAY, New York Times, BBC (which actually covered the Gorilla Gala live), Sky
News, Reuters, Guardian, all our local as well as regional media. The campaign attracted more attention than Chogm did in 2007 because during that meeting, everyone focused on the Queen. Actually, the international media ended up covering floods in the north - yet another negative image of Uganda to the world.
The 'Friend-A- Gorilla' campaign was initiated by Uganda Wildlife Authority under the leadership of Mr Moses Mapesa and supported by Uganda's private sector, our Speaker [Mr Edward Ssekandi] who contributed Shs1,000,000 towards the campaign, our legislators as well as Sustainable Tourism in the Albertine Rift Programme (STAR) that brought in the international celebrities.
Uganda last year is said to have earned $630 million from tourism alone which was second to remittances by Ugandans in the Diaspora. That is more than the earnings from coffee, tea, fish, cotton and flowers combined.
The sad part, however, is that all Uganda's 10 national parks and 13 game reserves still received less than 70,000 international tourists in total. And if this figure is used for the purpose of comparison with Kenya and Tanzania, then as a country, Uganda is still asleep and as citizens, we should be ashamed of this.
That figure is less than 10 per cent of what Kenya receives and the reason is that Kenya spends more than $10 million through Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) compared to $1m Uganda Tourist Board (UTB) has been given. Uganda should plough back at least 1 per cent of its earnings in tourism at the very least.
The issue here is not lack of attractions but rather the negative image Uganda gets. Uganda is still associated with former president Idi Amin 30 years after his reign, wars (which is now history - thanks to the government's efforts) diseases, poverty and corruption. The best way to change this image is by branding Uganda continuously using our God-given endowments like the gorillas, the mountains, the birds, our national parks, culture and history.
However, this requires annual budget allocation and support by Parliament of Uganda just like the Kenyan Parliament does. I would like thankthe government for recognising the role tourism by offering tax exemption on safari motor vehicles and building materials. This will enhance the sector's ability to provide quality services as well as improve Uganda's overall image.
Mr Wekesa is the president of Uganda Tourism Association and managing director of Great Lakes Safaris Ltd.
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