Government through the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) in partnership with Amos Wekesa’ Great Lakes Safaris Limited have invited United Arab Emirates based Travel Influencer Mr Khalid Al Ameri who arrived in Uganda aboard Emirates Airline on Tuesday April 6th at Entebbe International Airport together with his Wife Dahud Salaam and their two Children.
Khalid’s visit to Uganda was as a result of the farewell viral video that he shared online across his multiple social media platforms, circulated widely and caught attention of concerned netizens thereby gaining maximum momentum while he and family appeared together with Sarah Nasanga bidding farewell and lauding her for the amazing hospitality being their six year house helper as this portrayed one great love, togetherness and humanity. The viral video posted on December 11th 2020 attracted close to 35, 000,000 million views on YouTube and also pulled greater other crowds on his Instagram, Facebook and Tik Tok being a major travel digital icon in the Emirati region detailing to their attention and the World atlarge which persuaded the board to tap onto the same opportunity and engage Khalid being a travel influencer and guru so as to bolster destination Uganda’s tourism in the Gulf region as he will be sharing every adventure he encounters online especially to people in the middle east region.
Mr Khalid and Family will be enjoying fully paid premium trips to enjoy Uganda’s amazing wonders, jungle in the wild and super exciting Gorilla tracking which is also his kid’s favourite activity since they have been only watching Wild animals on Travel television channels such as NatGeo Wild and here is opportunity to watch live 50% of the World’s left primate residing in the jungles of South western Uganda at Bwindi National Park.
The Family is in Uganda for a three (3) wild adventure experience starting Tuesday 06th – 08th April 2021 as they will be traversing; Queen Elizabeth National Park for Game drives in the jungle to catch eye exciting live views of; Lions, Antelopes, Buffalos, Impala, among many more wildlife species residing in the park then after take on boat cruises along the Kazinga Channel vessel that also pours into Lake Edward before embarking on Gorilla tracking at Bwindi National Park and after return to Kampala to catch a cultural experience at Ndere cultural centre on Friday and before attending Sarah’s wedding slated for Saturday 10th April 2021 as a sign of togetherness.
While addressing Journalists at Entebbe Airport Lounge upon arrival, Khalid and family were super excited to come to Uganda for the very first time and also revealed that they will be taking on their very first adventure since the outbreak of the global Coronavirus.
He said, ‘’It’s an honour to be here in the Pearl of Africa, courtesy of Sarah who is incredibly a good ambassador of the Country which she represents with utmost attitude and dignity, work ethic and kindness. Nasanga did not only work with our family but she was part of the family for great six years treating us with great Ugandan hospitality, she was more of a sister to all of us’’.
Sarah Nasanga receiving a warm hug from her former bosses at the Airport
He further revealed that, ‘’the reason as to why I and Salaama opted to choose Uganda the Pearl of Africa for our trip is that we as a Family wanted to see more parts of her home Country given that us as UAE nationals greatly understand the importance of Tourism to an economy. The leadership of the UAE has put so many things in place for decades to enable Tourists from other parts of the World come to see more of the Country, fall in love with the Country, connect with the culture and people as this is what created the global enabling environment that the United Arab Emirates has today courtesy of the opportunities availed by the leadership to put up good infrastructure and the necessary systems to welcome people from all parts of the World’’.
He also added that, ‘’Because of that, I thought let me explore, let my wife and kids lead me on this Journey of Uganda to share that story to the World. I am just the Camera person, I tell the story through my Wife and the kids, I am more curious to see how they interact with nature, how they interact with the people and wildlife species that they see, I am so excited to see what Uganda has in offer’’.
He concluded, ‘’This is our second time in Uganda, I and my Wife Salaama were previously here our first time for a mission with the United Nations to cover the great that Uganda does for refugees, for us now is that we want to take a step back from work and see what the Country has interms of tourism that we will share with the world and people at home as we have been seeing all these majorly on YouTube’’.
Great Lakes Safaris proprietor Mr Amos Wekesa talking to Media upon Khalid’s arrival at Entebbe Airport press lounge
Great Lakes Safaris proprietor Mr Amos Wekesa said, ‘’I was in a WhatsApp group and a group guys revealed we’ve heard the Khalid is coming to Uganda, I had no idea, they said you must look out for that gentleman being a Travel expert, I was like how do I look out for a stranger I had no idea whom he is, three weeks later I receive a call from Kyambadde Enock, a normal Ugandan in town who follows my social media platforms closely, he said this big man is coming to Uganda, can you make sure that we give him a trip beyond just a wedding that he is coming to attend, he started talking about Sarah, so we did offer a three day trip with no flights, then last week am in the boardroom at UTB and tell them this gentleman is coming to Uganda and hence opted to join us to ensure that flights and everything is done to host the travel fanatics Mr Khalid, Wife and Kids henceforth having all the Itinery done ready to take him through the Pearl’’
He added that, ‘’Its because of people like him that make Countries, UAE survives mainly on bringing in influencers and for us to have such an influencer its really fantastic, what he is going to experience will be pushed online. Am praying that UTB makes him an Ambassador and that he comes to the Country back to back. He is going to be using MV Kazinga which is one of Uganda’s best boats, he will spend nights at Elephant Lodges in Queen Elizabeth before stepping out for Bwindi,’’
Uganda Tourism Board Marketing Manager, Claire Mugabi addressing Journalists on Tuesday at Entebbe Airport press lounge
Claire Mugabi – Uganda Tourism Board Marketing Manager revealed that Khalid and his Family was seeing off Sarah after working with them for six years, the story that went viral was so much emotional as they said Sarah had become like family to them, therefore as Uganda Tourism Board, when Khalid mentioned that he was going to come and attend Nasanga’s wedding, we wanted to expose Khalid to familiarize with what we have as a Country beyond the beautiful persona of Sarah, because as a destination, one of the key things we have is good hospitality, the people of Uganda are so welcoming and Sarah was able to show this reason we said we need to bring Al Meri to the Pearl of Africa so that he sees the rest that make us truly the Pearl o Africa.
She said, ‘’We want to work with Khalid to tap onto his following online comprising over 6 million people just on Facebook plus other social media platforms. Therefore us as destination Uganda, we want to work with Khalid to further consolidate our presence in the United Arab Emirates markets that we are currently targeting for Tourism arrivals. We’ve traditionally been focussing on North America which is the US and Canada followed by United Kingdom and Ireland followed by Germany, Austria and Switzerland as traditional markets we focussed on because of their attractive nature interms of arrivals that we can generate from there. But also overtime we’ve gone ahead to focus on new emerging markets like the UAE, Japan and China which is in line with our market development strategy aimed at tapping onto the UAE market.’’
She added, ‘We want to work with people like Khalid to tap into their voice and brand to further create visibility for destination Uganda and to work with him to create awareness for the different tourism products that we have as a Country. UAE before Covid was generating an annual 5,000 visitors, we are very confident that with the roll out of the Covid-19 vaccine worldwide, this is further going to build confidence in travel once again to Uganda and other destinations and hope to see people coming in again from the UAE post Covid, that’s why we are here with Khalid to take him around Uganda,’’
She further noted that,’’ Outside Uganda, some people don’t know that Uganda is home to 50% of the Worlds’ remaining primate reason why we are taking on Khalid so as he shares the experience and content through his social media platforms so that we get people to see what Uganda has in offer. In the UAE, we target families and people who want to come to low haul destinations like Uganda for Safaris. The other reason we are targeting the UAE is also because of further improved connectivity to Uganda from the UAE as you all know it take just four hours from Entebbe International Airport to Dubai and vice versa. We’ve had Flydubai, we have Emirates flying to Uganda twice daily and very soon by June – Uganda Airlines’ flights will be inaugurated to Dubai and the UAE to further enhance connectivity. That gives us confidence that as destination, when you have improved connectivity to a source destination, it makes it more convenient for people to travel to Uganda, it makes it more affordable reason we want Khalid to spread the good gospel with them so that we get them coming and see what we have as Pearl of Africa and also thank Sarah because if it wasn’t her, we wouldn’t be having Khalid, reason why the people of Uganda a filled with great hospitality and calmness exhibited through her.’’
She concluded that,’’ As Uganda Tourism Board, we want to show Khalid that the people of Uganda are beyond Sarah while take him to see the diverse cultures, hospitality, attractions, food among many more so as to keep the relationship going to get people coming to Uganda and who knows Ugandans can also travel to the UAE further for several reasons.
Khalid hitting the drums as welcomed by a Ugandan dance troupe at the Airport.
Khalid and Family visit to Uganda being a major travel influencer in the United Arab Emirates is projected to attract thousands of other Tourists from across the same Region to come to Uganda and enjoy amazing Tourist Attractions the Pearl of Africa has in abundancy.
Uganda Tourism Board is optimistic to returning Tourist figures pre Covid -19 era to the 5,000 tourists from the United Arab Emirates and close to 1.4 Million annually from all over the World.
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