Unlike the previous editions that have always brought together physical interactions and live tourism showcase exhibitions connecting directly various hosted buyers, local Tourism product sellers, the Media, enabling B2B interactions, Conferences among many more from different stakeholders in the Tourism, Travel and Hospitality fraternities, the 2021 version will seem a bit different given the existence of the Covid-19 pandemic, travel restrictions from some Countries like United Kingdom and limitations on public gatherings all targeted to fight the spread of the Coronavirus.
The 2021 Pearl of Africa Tourism Exposition now in its 6th year will be live on the portal designated by the Uganda Tourism Board as this is projected to bring together various Tourism stakeholders all on one single platform participating from the comfort of their zones across the globe from the 27th – 29th April 2021 valid for 24 hours each single day. The board is optimistic to having over 400 hosted buyers online, unlike last year where they hosted 50 hosted buyers when the event was physical, this year-round will show an increase in heightening Uganda’s tourism to the outside World. Currently, Uganda Tourism Board confirms 300 fully registered hosted buyers on the POATE live platform from all across the different parts of the Globe as these are expected to grow in the remaining days prior to the biggest Tourism expo in the Pearl of Africa.
POATE 2021 running under the theme; Restarting Tourism for Regional Economic Development’ is prospected to stir regional economic development through the tagline resurrect, reconnect and rediscover Uganda’s Tourism post the Covid era, so that the world gets to appreciate destination Uganda as a top-notch Tourism hub in the region, in Africa and the World at large.
Uganda Tourism Board – Marketing Manager, Claire Mugabi reveals that this year’s Pearl of Africa Tourism Exposition is entirely free of charge as the platform is open and will be running for three consecutive days to allow participants share ideas, do interviews given the different time zones, get a glimpse of investment opportunities in Uganda’s tourism among others.
Claire stresses that, ‘’ the whole intention of POATE online is to expose our local industry players and reconnect them to potential buyers from across the World, we are looking forward to rebooting the sector, reason why its entirely free this time to allow people see our different tourism products with the intention of getting them back on main course tourism.
We have selected out crème de la crème mainstream discussants with years of experience in Tourism both at local and International level, from Uganda, we will have discussants from the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities and also from our private sector panel of experts so as to share their experiences’’. She adds
She also reveals that, ‘’POATE 2021 will have exhibitors from Uganda while over 400 hosted buyers that we have invited are from Countries like; USA, Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada as our core markets and from emerging markets like; China, UAE, Japan so as we tap into their expert potential markets, however, there’s criteria to follow with Uganda Tourism Board as one of our mandate is to register participants with the board in line with minimum standards to meet although for POATE, registration is entirely free’’.
Claire continues to say, ‘’Uganda is the number two source market before Kenya, so it’s important we tap into visitors that come across from within the region for business and take them around the Country on a trip. It should be recalled that 80% of arrivals into our country are from the region and as we talk about restarting Tourism, we should start with the regional source markets like; Rwanda, South Sudan, Kenya, Burundi, Mombasa, Tanzania, the DRC among others’’.
She advises that, ‘’As Ugandans, we must learn to tell the positive story about Uganda, tell the beautiful things that make up Uganda. POATE 2021 will focus on telling to the World the positives about Uganda as one of the most beautiful and safest country in the World. During the virtual Expo, we will also be telling people the safety guidelines and all they need to come to Uganda, marvel and enjoy our beautiful sun, sand-soaked beaches, attractions, national parks, natural vegetation, gorilla tracking et cetra, so the exposition is going to go a long way in enhancing the image of the destination.’’
Mugabi is optimistic most of the Countries are going to relax on travel restrictions as they are currently at 50% on Covid-19 vaccine rollout, and by June most of the Countries the board focusses on like; USA where Uganda gets most visitors will have 100% vaccinated their people, many of these people have been tied up out of travel for almost a year and she believes they are now hungry for travel and to have beautiful experiences outside their home countries that are safe and beautiful like Uganda although the Country continues to guarantee the safety of visitors even when the world opens up.
She also states that, ‘’As Uganda Tourism Board, we’ve taken great strides to sensitize our sector players to let them see the potential contribution of domestic tourism to the sector and also to build confidence in them as right now we can see many of them opening up to domestic travelers, this is evident in the case that we now witness people doing weekend getaway escapes in groups to the different destinations almost every other week. Many industry players have currently been riding business on the domestic market as this will be merged with foreign visitors when the world entirely opens up for travel post Covid since vaccines are now in place’’.
Shading more light on domestic Tourism, Claire urges that, ’if you can convert the 48 million population Ugandans into travelers, one will get to know we have a lot of travelers in the Country and can afford travel given that we already have a product and the domestic market is also more dependable hence not as disrupted as the foreign markets when it comes to eventualities like covid, right now even the borders are closed but people still do tours locally, hence we’ve gone around sensitizing people about the benefits and as I talk, many are reaping off from the benefits hugely.’’
Pre-covid, Tourism was the biggest GDP contributor of the economy, annually Tourism would earn the Country up to $1.6 million as an invisible export and trade. Uganda Tourism Board has always shared their annual reports with the public through the media and people are now getting to appreciate reason they are so much of late preserving endangered species because now they know the value of Tourism and its benefits than initially when they had no insight.
POATE is a tourism exposition organized annually by the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB). It brings together domestic, regional and international tour operators, travel agents, destination agencies and various players in the tourism trade to network and facilitate tourism business. It is a unique opportunity for tourism businesses to meet new clients, network, and market their services and products. With the effects of the Pandemic to the tourism sector, POATE is an initiate to revive the industry back to its glory days. This will create opportunities for growth of country and the economy in general. It is one avenue of selling Uganda to Ugandans and those abroad.
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