The Fifth Edition for the Pearl Of Africa Tourism Expo 2020 organized by Uganda Tourism Board and Ministry Of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities in partnership with Government sister agencies; NITA, Uganda Airlines, Uganda Hotel Owners Association, Uganda Wildlife Education Centre and Uganda Wildlife Authority came to an end on Thursday after lasting for close to three days from Tuesday 4th – Wednesday 6th February 2020 at Speke Resort Munyonyo.
The Expo that commenced in high gear maintained same pace as it attracted up to 57 hosted buyers, 140 domestic and regional tourism operators who placed their tourism products and services in a wide exhibition stall as these included; tours and travel companies, Airlines and aviation practitioners , Crafts people, hoteliers, traditional music and dance troupes among many more.
In an interview with some of the exhibitors; they applauded Uganda Tourism Board for such a great initiative that acted as a link between them and their new potential customers and also acted as a networking ground for them to meet new people in the intra-travel trade.
Commenting about this year’s Expo, UTB CEO, Lilly Ajarova said,’’ This year alone, we received overwhelming numbers of applicants or hosted buyers world over and local exhibitors that wanted to be part of the Pearl Of Africa Tourism Expo, though the slots were limited and we wouldn’t bring onboard everyone given our planned budgets. This is an immense milestone given the last editions which received very few applicants and this really portrays that we are doing a great Job to bring tourism stakeholders together in one of the biggest Tourism Expos in the World that only happens in Uganda. However, the past editions have always had challenges that we really learned from and worked had to fix.’’
POATE 2020 integrated a business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) trade event format under the theme “Inspiring high value engagement to promote intra-Africa travel for leisure, business and adventure”, aimed at raising Uganda’s profile as a preferred destination in the region and internationally.
The Pearl Of Africa Tourism Expo 2020 was based on three main pillars which include; Connect, Showcase and Discover.
Uganda Tourism Board organized a chain of activities for hosted buyers as these included Familiarization trips for international hosted buyers and international media, Business to Business (B2B) meetings, Business to Customer meetings and Networking sessions.
Some of the yields and key milestones achieved at POATE 2020 for Brand Destination Uganda included; Signing Contracts between Uganda’s travel trade operators (TOs, hotels etc.) and the invited hosted buyers, MOU signing between Uganda Tourism Board and Uganda Airlines on promotional support and destination branding, MOUs signing between Uganda Tourism Board and invited international media houses on Promotional support and destination branding, The vast awareness about Brand Destination Uganda accruing from POATE, locally and internationally and Industry knowledge sharing and learning by stakeholders. During closure, POATE 2021 was announced by officials from the Board.
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