David Mugabe
11 November 2009
Kampala — THE permanent secretary in the ministry of trade, ambassador Julius Onen, has asked government for more funding into the tourism industry so that the country can earn its true value from the sector.
Speaking to Business Vision, Onen said because of under funding, the sector remains hugely unexploited. Compared to some East African states, Uganda's tourism promotional activities remain below par.
"We could triple our tourism arrivals if we just double our investments in the sector," said Onen.
Uganda's tourism arrivals in 2008 reached 843,864 and brought in $590m. In 2007, Uganda earned $475m (sh1.04 trillion) from tourism with 641,743 arrivals, surpassing coffee as the number one foreign exchange earner.
In this year's budget, government has allocated about sh2b to Tourism Uganda for its promotional activities.
While this is an improvement compared to the about sh600m that the lead agency had been receiving for about a decade, it is still a far cry from what is substantially needed to turn the sector around.
Onen has called on all the players concerned in financial decision making to give the sector priority because of its potential. Tourism is the only kind of export where those who consume it come for it from the source.
A casual glimpse across East Africa explains the varying levels of priority that the countries give to this industry.
Take Kenya for instance, in the last financial year, $9m was allocated to the Kenya Tourist Board to maintain promotion momentum after over $20m was injected in the sector in the post election violence in 2007. In Tanzania about $50m was extended to the ministry of natural resources and tourism.
In Uganda though, there has been a commendable decision to upgrade infrastructure, specifically the road network, which is a key driver for tourism.
Clear evidence about the ripple effects that promotional initiatives can have has been manifested in the friend-a-gorilla campaign organised by the Uganda Wildlife Authority.
Emerging information from Tourism Uganda indicates that over 15,000 visitors have signed onto the friend-a-gorilla website each contributing $1.
That means the initiative has already reaped $15,000 in under two months.
A brain-child of UWA, the success of this initiative also adds credence to the argument that organisations do not have to always wait for government money, but should be creative and think outside the box.
Meanwhile, the tourism state minister, Serapio Rukundo, this week led a delegation of tourism promoters and travel agents to the World Travel Market in London that stared on Monday.
But yet again, government funding was lacking with private tour operators coming in to bail Tourism Uganda in securing reasonable exhibition space.
Sources from Tourism Uganda said the Association of Uganda Tour Operators and Civil Aviation Authority extended $5,000 and ?$5,000 respectively to Tourism Uganda.
With 66.5 square meters costing ?29,521, Uganda has the smallest exhibition space while Tanzania has the largest in East Africa.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
