In bid to elevate Uganda’s Tourism to the top, especially after the pandemic, Uganda Tourism (UTB), a body mandated to promote and regulate Uganda’s tourism has given Tourism and hospitality operators until January next year to register their facilities.
As revealed during the quality assurance training at Turip Hotel in Kampala recently, Ms Lily Ajarova, the UTB chief executive officer, said Uganda’s tourism and hospitality facilities continue to rank below global standards, noting that there is need for proper licensing to protect both the industry and other stakeholders such as tourists.
She said it was for this reason that the tourism regulatory body is calling out to tour operators to register their facilities by January next year or risk legal action.
“You have been in business for years and are not registered with UTB, never been inspected and without a license. That is an illegal business, according to the law,” she said, noting that there is need for all tourism value chain businesses to adhere to international standards as well as create a system that has the capacity to trace back a complaint,” Arjalova noted.
“If anything goes wrong with a client, we must be sure to trace its origin. All facilities must be in our database by January 1, 2023,” she added.
Uganda tourism sector, according to UTB, has more than 3,879 accommodation facilities, 1,111 tour and travel operators and 937 tour guides. The licensing also seeks, UTB says, to ensure safety of tourism clients and promotion of sanity in the industry.
The World Tourism & Travel Council 2019 report ranked Uganda 139th out of 141 survey countries, a ranking that reflects poorly on one of the country’s largest foreign exchange earners.
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