With tourism becoming the country's largest foreign exchange earner, the government has been urged to increase funding in the marketing of the sector and also improving some of the access roads to the key iconic attractions.
The remarks were made during the SpotlightUg Show that aired on NBS television on Monday night under the topic: Sustainable Tourism Development in Uganda.
While appearing on the show, the Chief Executive Officer of Uganda Tourism Board, Lilly Ajarova said although there has been some investment in the sector by the government, there is a lot that needs to be done.
"Budget, we definitely need more. We need to get to the global consumers where we get the brand Uganda out there and everybody around the world gets to know that there is this brand called Uganda. There has to be a consumer campaign that we must do to be able to drive the numbers from the consumer to the business," she said.
"So, we need to get the budget to that level where we can run some global consumer campaigns to position brand Uganda out. Yes, budget is definitely an issue again. The products need to be enhanced, diversify so that we are able to keep the travellers longer in the country," she added.
Ajarova explained there is a need to improve some of the access roads hence calling for more investment in the infrastructure and the existing products.
"The other challenge we have is with the skill. We really need to improve on the quality of our services. I think a lot of the education that our students are having is theoretical. We need practical training for them," she suggested.
According to the Uganda Tourism Satellite Account 2023, released by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) and the Ministry of Tourism, the sector registered 19.3% arrivals in Uganda for holidays, leisure and recreation 40.9% for business tourism, 28.2% for visiting friends & relatives and 11.6% for other reasons.
Uganda received 1.486,876 travellers in 2019 and revenue of Shs 4.5 trillion. 67.7% of all arrivals originated from Africa; Europe (16.1%), America (9.8%), Middle East (1.9%) and Asia (2.0%). Each of the delegates spent an average of 8.3 nights and spent an average of USD$111 (UGX411, 200) per day.
The Permanent Secretary at the ministry of Tourism, Dorreen Katusiime said as a sector, there is need to focus more on how much the country makes out of tourism other than just focusing on the number of tourist arrivals.
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Katusiime said studies show that the number of tourist arrivals doubled over an average of 10 years.
"We have to invest as a country. We have to invest more resources and do the marketing aggressively but secondly we have to diversify, we have to have more products, but also improve the products that we have. So our tourism has largely been based on nature," she said.
"We need to focus more on the things that make us unique. And that is why we are now focusing on things like community tourism. People are more interested in learning about the society they come to see, how two people are, how they entertain themselves. Then you have the adventure activities," she said.
Stakeholders in the industry believe that if the governments invest more in the sector, the country's tourism will be able to reach global consumers.
Uganda has been recognised as one of the top travel destinations in the world by the international Multinational Cable News Network (CNN) in its article titled "Where to Travel in 2023."
The country stands out among other tourist destinations by emphasising tourism attractions including Lake Victoria, the snow-capped Mt. Rwenzori, and an abundance of wildlife.
