Uganda’s Tourism Sector has been allocated additional funding to support its growth and development in the FY 2024/25 Budget allocations.
This announcement came during the Thursday 13th National Budget reading at Kololo Independence Grounds by the Hon. Matia Kasaijja, the Minister for Finance, Planning and Economic Development.
Destination Uganda has increasingly regained its global position among the top ten best tourism destinations in global tourism rankings. In 2023, international tourist arrivals increased by 56 per cent to 1.274 million tourists compared to 814,085 arrivals in 2022 and the peak of 1.52 million in 2019. The global tourism receipts reached USD 1.03 billion in 2023.
Hon. Matia Kasaijja revealed that Tourism has a high return on investment. In FY2024/25 emphasizing that the government has provided Shs 289.6 billion to the tourism development programmes as this will enable support for international and domestic tourism marketing and promotion activities, modernise our tourism products to make them more competitive. These include the completion of the pier and related infrastructure at the Source of the Nile, upgrading the Uganda Museum, construction of 8,000 metres of climbing ladders and boardwalks on the Rwenzori Mountains to make hiking safer.
He also quoted that part of this allocation will assist in the continuation with the grading, supervision and classification of tourism facilities to enhance the quality of services and ensure adherence to the required global standards and also complete the upgrade of the Uganda Hotel and Tourism Training Institute infrastructure in an effort to make it an International Centre of Excellence for training and skills development in tourism and hospitality.
He added that, ‘’Part of this funding will be geared towards enhancing the conservation of Uganda’s 22 Wildlife Protected Areas with a focus on the mitigation of human wildlife conflicts. The government is going to construct an additional 150 kms of electric fence and maintain the existing 106 km fence, carry out boundary surveillance through more than 13,904 patrols, uproot invasive species and construct four (4) water dams in protected areas.
Besides Shs 287.6 billion that the government has directly provided to the tourism sector, an additional Shs 1.629 trillion has been provided for several critical interventions associated with tourism including support to Uganda Wildlife Authority, construction of tourism roads, road rehabilitation and upgrade under Kampala Capital City Authority, support to AFCON‘27 and completion of key stadia, strengthening security, law and order in the tourism destinations, and extension of the internet to tourism destinations, among others.
The government has also provided an additional Shs 55 billion to Uganda’s Missions Abroad to support the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) to market Uganda to potential tourists, market our exports and attract more investors.
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