Uganda Airlines has merged forces with the Uganda Tourism Board in a bid to promote destination Uganda across all its regional routes as this is aimed at making flights for Tourists and visitors convenient and cost effective to come and explore Uganda’s tourism attractions, fauna and flora through inbound tourism.
This comes after the two parties signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) during the Pearl Of Africa Tourism Expo 2020 at Speke Resort Munyonyo on Tuesday February 4th as the two agencies will work hand in hand to promote and boost Uganda’s tourism to the outside African markets the airline operates commercial regional flights too.
Uganda Tourism Board addressed Connectivity as one of the popular drivers for tourist numbers into the country and this partnership will see the Airlines bring in inbound tourists from destinations it operates flights to including; Mombasa, Kilimanjaro, Bujumbura, Nairobi, Juba, Dar-es- Salaam and Mogadishu.
Commenting about the partnership, UTB CEO, Lilly Ajarova said that,’’ This partnership has no amount of money tied to it inform of sponsorship or anything related as its aimed at working out plans together within the simple budgets to be allocated between the two Government entities to enable tourism promotion across regional routes the Airline operates flights to’’.
Ajarova added that, ’When Uganda Airlines was revived, one of the key points was to promote Uganda’s tourism and make flights simple for our tourists coming from the outside world to witness the beauty the Pearl Of Africa has in abundance’’.
Earlier this year, Uganda Airlines Marketing Manager, Mr Deo Nyanzi revealed why the national carrier established flights to the region’s tourist hubs.
Mid – December 2019, Uganda Airlines officiated flights to Zanzibar, the eighth on the route network of the airline that resumed commercial operations about five months ago.
“Marketing is not done locally but in the source markets,” Nyanzi revealed “By flying to Zanzibar, we are not targeting the local Zanzibari market but the tourists that come to the island for holiday because many would want to continue to Uganda but lack the means.”
The World Bank, in its Economic and Statistical Analysis of Tourism in Uganda report, published in 2013, indicated that tourists’ overall satisfaction with their trip to Uganda is high but are let down by local transport and insufficient visitor information.
Nonetheless, visitor arrivals continued to grow, earning the country more than $1.6 billion (Shs 5.8 trillion) during the 2018/19 financial year, up from $1.45 billion (Shs 5.3 trillion) in 2017/18, making the tourism sector stand out as the biggest foreign exchange earner for the economy, and overall, made about 7.9 per cent GDP contribution.
Through an ambitious tourism marketing and promotion strategy, Uganda aims at increasing the number of tourists from the current 1.3 million visitors to at least two million visitors this year. Once this is achieved, the sector is projected to rake in a minimum of $4 billion (Shs 14.6 trillion).
“From our engagements with tour operators both home and abroad, it is clear many tourists that come to the region want to visit the hinterland but are in most cases let down by flight connections. So, if a tourist comes from Europe to Mombasa or Zanzibar and is assured of a direct flight to Entebbe, they will end up adding Uganda on the itinerary,” Nyanzi said.
According to Nyanzi, the first quarter-year since the resumption of Uganda Airlines operations projects a brighter future for the airlines. With its fleet of four Bombardier CRJ900 jets, Uganda Airlines increased its frequency on the Nairobi route to three daily flights plus a daily flight on the Dar-es-Salaam route.
This has enabled it to establish its mark on the route, sometimes forcing Air Tanzania to surrender its passengers from Dar-es-Salaam to Uganda Airlines.
“We wanted to offer frequency unlimited options for travelers’ convenience. In a market where everyone offered flights on selected days, we discovered that it was limiting on the part of the travelers but with daily flights, travelers can choose a day convenient to them,” Nyanzi said.
The airline expects to take delivery of two Airbus A330-800neo next month (March) for its long-haul routes to Europe, Middle East and India.
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