Tourism Stakeholders Discuss Plans, Strategies, and Synergies for Effective Intra-Africa Sector Collaborations in Tourism Promotion, Marketing and Packaging.
Tourism experts, board chairpersons, CEOs, permanent secretaries, hosted buyers, and private sector stakeholders, among others, discussed at POATE Seminars during this year’s 7th Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo 2023, which was held from 26th – 29th April, 2023, at the Commonwealth Resort in Munyonyo. They proposed for effective promotion and marketing of tourism not just for Uganda as a destination but for the region and the African continent as a whole if we are to succeed and compete globally.
If we want to draw significant visitor arrivals and increase the overall revenue of African tourism, Mr. Cuthbert Ncube, the Chairperson of the African Tourism Board, suggested that Africa should be packaged, promoted, and marketed as a single premier tourist destination with an assortment of tourism offerings each designed in a unique way.
He stressed the demand for a concerted effort to promote tourism in Africa. Africa has experienced rapid tourism growth during the past ten years. The economy has regained momentum, but headline growth is insufficient, he added. As a result, purposeful efforts to lessen inequality and advance regional inclusion are now more important than ever.
“Africa is a uniquely well-endowed place that, if well packaged and marketed, in an integrated mechanism can significantly contribute to positive outcomes that benefit the rest of the continent,” he urged. “We are the dream destination of the World, in as much as there is splendor in the great historical monuments of the Greco-Roman era, plus the thrill of the game parks that offer days of camp out in the true African wilderness”.
Africa’s starry skies offer an intriguing escape from the hustle and bustle of city life. The vast grasslands and ecosystems of the African Savannah, whether in Queen Elizabeth or Kidepo Valley, among other places, in Uganda; the Okavango delta in Botswana; the Masai plains in Kenya; the jungles of the Hwange Game Reserve in Zimbabwe; or the enormous Kruger National Park in the northeast of South Africa, to name a few, offer what cannot be paralleled elsewhere in the world.
Before the COVID pandemic, Uganda was doing fairly well in terms of visa access, according to UTB Deputy CEO Bradford Ochieng.
‘’If you recall, the most recent African Development Bank study on visa access on the continent found that we had the best turnaround times for visitors at the airport and the best rates for tourist visas. A few aspects with automation and IT changed with COVID-19, which created difficulties in interactions and downtime. We didn’t perform particularly well as a nation, from number 3, we were almost number 38 out of 54 countries on the African continent. But recently we have been moving very well on the trajectory. We will be doing a lot of surveys, especially on application and process, as we do a study every two years to track our position. As a country, we need to continuously be attentive, develop tools, and listen to feedback from travellers, and as the Uganda Tourism Board, we are permanently at the Entebbe International Airport 24/7. We also have information points at border points for visitors that don’t come through Entebbe,” he said.
He concluded, ‘’In order to be present on the ground and guarantee that the turnaround time for visitor access to information is appropriate, we collaborate closely with immigration and the Civil Aviation Authority, among other partners’’.
Although there was a virtual edition in 2021 for POATE, Doreen S. Katusiime, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife, and Antiquities, noted that this year’s POATE has been the best attended way up above aside from the disruptions by COVID-19. ‘’We are happy that people are starting to travel extensively as it shows that the world is recovering and travel bouncing back to normal. I also like the regional linkages established by the East African Tourism Board’’.
Everyone today recognises the importance of creating partnerships and sector collaborations if we are to effectively sell and promote the travel and tourism business under the theme of borderless borders, she continued. Since we operate in the same industry, we sometimes behave as competitors. However, I believe it is time to recognise and embrace partnerships because the fact is that God blessed us with an abundance of resources. As a result, it is critical that we collaborate more so that we can all gain from it. For instance, if we are promoting travel locations in East Africa, there may be wildlife parallels, but there are also elements, like nature, that are specific to us and our neighbours, so it is necessary to take these into consideration.
‘’With 56 indigenous communities, each with its own unique cultural heritage and a strong rich history that has positively defined us over the years as a great country in terms of food, music, ways of dressing, passion, and faith, among others, that fascinate tourists about the way we live socially with diverse cultures and dialects, Uganda is the land of Africa’s friendliest people. This diversity also extends to the fascinating flora and animals, the Big 7 wildlife species, and other elements that add to the thrill of touring through Uganda. We have 54% of the remaining endangered mountain gorillas in the world, half of Africa’s bird species, more than 40% of the continent’s landmass covered by water, and the source of River Nile all found here. Additionally, we have the captivating glaciated Rwenzori mountain ranges, scenic mountains and valleys, ancient tropical rain forests, and the oldest white sand-soaked beaches, and therefore, if we work together collaboratively, by 2025 we should expect a full recovery,” the Permanent Secretary noted.
Tourism at a Glance
An industry as fragile as tourism is susceptible to interruptions, such as poor communication, environmental issues, pandemics, epidemics, etc. Uganda has experienced a number of these disruptions, but now that the global travel market is open and countries are scrambling for tourists due to the fierce competition, travel is returning. To survive in the new tourism business direction, it is necessary to promote the industry, encourage domestic travel among locals, and be more innovative and aggressive in terms of marketing and positioning abroad.
Since domestic and regional markets are less susceptible to global issues—especially in light of the painful lessons learned from COVID—they have come to define popular tourist destinations around the world. Because these markets also generate significant foreign exchange, it is important to pursue them.
Kenyans have done a great job of concentrating on their home markets. The local populace must be encouraged to support social ideals including participation, education, communication, and improved local governance for the tourism business to thrive. If the social values and traditions of the local community level, or even the environment or its social economic benefits, do not trickle down, there can be no meaningful tourism growth.
Because Uganda is primarily a nature-based area, threats to its tourism industry’s pristine resource include poaching, deforestation, the effects of climate change, pollution, and encroachment in protected areas. These threats have a negative impact on the stability of ecosystems and, as a result, pose a threat to the resource’s appeal. The importance of sustainable tourism development, which focuses on the idea of economic resource utilisation that does not jeopardise the physical human environment, must be emphasised as we discuss tourism and driving statistics.
Destination Uganda is prepared for investment thanks to its distinctive attractions, first-rate infrastructure, and appropriate regulatory framework. A number of other service-related industries, including hotels, protected areas, technology, transportation services, and air travel, all provide excellent investment potential. Exploiting nature-based tourism, which includes, for example, visiting national parks, mountains, and islands in Lake Victoria, has huge potential.
Uganda has an attractive framework and economic and physical incentives for private investors, with generous capital recovery terms for investors whose projects entail difficult investment in plant and machinery and whose investments are likely to yield profits over a long period of time.
On a lighter note, Uganda, the East African region, and the entire African continent welcome tourists wholeheartedly and treat domestic customers with decency. It is necessary to repackage cross-border relations within our continent so that both domestic and foreign customers can use it. For Africa to become a premier tourist destination, travel must be affordable and accessible to the continent’s people.
POATE 2023
The Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) organised the Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo 2023, a premium signature national event at the Common Wealth Resort in Munyonyo, with an up the mark attendance and participation. It brought together all tourism stakeholders and other service providers along the tourism value chain from both local and international levels in an effort to promote Uganda as a sought-after travel destination both at home and abroad.
The exhibition comprised pre-POATE and post-expo FAM trips, business-to-business meetings, stakeholder exhibitions, and MICE promotion (meetings, incentives, conferences, and events).
The event saw participation from 100 hosted buyers, 300 exhibitors, and 5,000 trade visitors.
‘’Explore Uganda, the Pearl of Africa’’ was the theme of this year’s POATE, which aims to continually highlight the new national brand identity and serve as an invitation to travellers to visit Uganda, stay for extended long periods, and spend quality time exploring the vast array of tourist attractions the country has to offer.
The newly refreshed destination brand identity is the result of the commitment of both public and private sector stakeholders to jointly identify, package, eventually communicate, and provide tourists with once-in-a-lifetime and lifetime memories.
The goal of Explore Uganda, the Pearl of Africa, is to position Uganda as the most appealing travel destination in Africa and around the world for both tourists and tourism investors. Uganda is recognized as a destination that offers a broad range of experiences countrywide.
The Explore Uganda brand serves to remind those outside of Uganda that the country is more than just a tourism hotspot; rather, it is a collection of varied journeys through experiences. It serves as a reminder that Uganda has a lot to offer everyone, including young and old, wealthy, middle-class, and low-budget travelers, thrill-seekers, tranquil and romantic retreats, group excursions, and solitary vacations.
The offer to discover Uganda extends beyond merely traveling here for pleasure and taking care of oneself, it is an invitation to fully explore, discover, and rediscover all that Uganda, the Pearl of Africa, has to offer in terms of experiences and attractions.
Uganda provides everything a potential traveler could desire to see and experience in terms of Tourism. In addition to having an opportunity of discovering the Pearl. This sets Uganda apart from other countries in Africa and the rest of the world in several aspects. In addition, the destination is ideal for honeymoons, vacations, retreats, conferences, sports tourism, hot air balloon safaris, mountaineering and hiking, golf safaris, zip lining, cycling and mountain biking, river boarding or surfing, canopy walks, and game drives, among other tourist activities and adventures.
Post-POATE 2023, Uganda’s tourism arrivals are expected to be upbeat or even surpass pre-pandemic levels.
Prior to the pandemic, Uganda’s tourism sector was one of the country’s fastest-growing and employed the majority of young people and women. In 2018, the tourism sector contributed 7.7% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) while generating 667,600 jobs; in 2019, it generated 671,000 jobs, the bulk of which were for young people between the ages of 18 and 30. Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the sector only managed to mobilize 2.7% of GDP in 2020, translating to 489,000 jobs. As the economy has opened up, there has been a gradual but steady increase in the number of tourists traveling throughout the country and the amount of funds available to support the sector. Despite the difficulties the pandemic brought about, the sector is optimistic that this recovery will continue through the coming years.
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