BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP FROM KENYA TOURISM STAKEHOLDERS TO TOUR UGANDA.
On September 17th, 2022, tourism trade operators and the media team from Kenya have been in Uganda for a seven-day familiarization trip to seek business support and partnership with their counterparts in Uganda by having 10 days trip visiting various tourist sites in Pearl of Africa.
Cross-border visits by Kenyans boosted tourism not only in Uganda but also in Kenya since Ugandans as well organized 3 days road trip to Kenya by UTB. Kenyan’s visit to Uganda builds linkages for Kenyans to explore adventure, leisure, business and cultural attractions that Uganda has to offer. The Kenyan team visited places like Namugongo Martyrs shrine and museum, Ndere center cultural experience, Kibale national park, Queen Elizabeth and Bwindi Forest National park and the nightlife experiences across the country.
At Imperial Royale hotel in Kampala, Ms. Lilly Ajarova Chief Executive Officer UTB at the debrief meeting with trade teams explained that Uganda was working with Kenya tourism stakeholders to grow the tourism numbers and duration of stay for visitors in the country.” requires aggressive marketing of the country based on what is experienced firsthand.” She added.
She continuously said that the familiarization trip is designed to give the Kenyan trade partners the opportunity to explore Uganda. The trip presents a first-hand feel of the unique attractions and cultural experience by the trade teams which will better appreciation of the products offered.
To develop attractive tour packages that will benefit both destinations in terms of business, the trade partners will work together. A campaign has been run by UTB under a new thematic brand dubbed ‘Explore Uganda, The Pearl of Africa’ to reposition Uganda as a leading tourism destination in Africa. For Uganda to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, it had to brand identity ‘explore Uganda’ which is not only branded in Uganda but also in different countries like Rwanda during CHOGM 2022 to increase tourist arrivals in the global travel industry.
senior sales consultant Gamewa Teachers safaris Yvonne Muteru was amazed by the beauty and breathtaking scenery in Uganda.
What to see while in Uganda?
Mountain Gorillas trekking.
Mount Gorilla trekking is the best activity that is commonly done annually in Uganda. They are habited in Bwindi Impenetrable national park and mgahinga national park which harbors half of the gorilla population census in Virunga conservation area. Comparing gorilla permits in Uganda and Rwanda, Uganda gorilla permits are cheaper than gorilla permits in Rwanda which are $700 per person and $1500 per person respectively. Although gorilla trekking is done annually, it has the best time for trekking and there are June to August and December to march which is commonly known as the high season.
Namugongo Martyrs’ shrine
The Namugongo Martyrs’ shrine is one of the sites for religious tourism in Uganda which attracts people from all walks of life in the world to learn and pay tribute to the martyrs who were killed by Kabaka Mwanga of Uganda. The shrine attracts tourists annually 3rd of June as the largest Christian pilgrimage destination in Africa dedicated to the 22 Martyrs and saints of Uganda who were martyred between 1885 and 1887 by the king of Buganda, Kabaka Mwanga II.
Chimpanzees tracking.
Chimpanzee tracking is a spiced activity with the game drive or nature walk and many activities thus making it the best destination in Uganda. The chimps are known to be close relatives of humans just gorillas whose DNA is 98% human. Muteru said that Uganda has a magical country; the hills, valleys, crater lakes, gorillas, and chimpanzees. It is just a breathtaking country and she feels that with the right guidelines and proper resources in the various tourist spots, it would do well in bringing in more guests into the country. UWA issues out chimp permits at $200 per person for chimp tracking with a limitation of 8 individuals whereas residents pay 150,000 Uganda shillings.
Water Rafting.
Water rafting is commonly done in Jinja at the source of the Nile which is the longest river in Africa. The activity takes about 4-5 hours which is a great experience for visitors practicing them. While on the activity, the visitors will spot green vegetation, canoes, fishermen, monkeys and birds like owls, egrets, kingfishers, Egyptian birds and many others.
The ministry of tourism, the private sector and UTB still have a lot of work to do to develop the tourism sector, however, especially in product development, value addition on the various sites and a lot of hidden gems that need to be exposed so that both the domestic and international markets can know them.
Oyalo said Uganda is still lacking in a number of areas like marketing; all these products need more exposure to both local and international markets in order for Uganda to have a tourism component that can play at per with Kenya and Tanzania and this can be started by simply being active on social media.
What are the other key areas the Kenya tour operators cited that need improvement?
- The hospitality industry where they noted that customer service is highly lacking
- Poor infrastructure in most of the tourism sites especially in terms of access
roads where the roads are very narrow, inaccessible and bumpy, especially those heading to the national parks. - Poor internet connectivity in most areas.
“Indeed our services are still very poor and as a regulator, they are taking serious steps to ensure that they catch up with Kenya in terms of services and infrastructure.” Ajarova welcomed the criticism from the Kenyans and acknowledged it.
Ajarova said that the next step we moving to is accommodation because we know it is terrible. we had started grading and classification of accommodation facilities about six years ago but we didn’t do it very well because we were using Ugandan standards. But from January 2023, we are going to use a digitized system for the classification of our accommodation facilities which is going to be faster and more convenient
“So by next year, everyone should be able to know what star each accommodation facility in the country is because right now none of the accommodation facilities in Uganda is graded.” She added.
In terms of business, the trade partners will work together to develop attractive tour packages that will benefit both destinations (Uganda and Kenya).
