Poor Marketing Hurting Uganda's Tourism Industry

Uganda's tourism sector is one of the sectors with great potential and it's a major contributor to the the country's national budget, however this is one of the sectors with massive untapped resource.

According to report released by World Economic Forum last month, Uganda made over Shs1.5 trillion ($660 million) from the travel and tourism sector in 2010, however the country still ranks among the lowest performing in the sector globally.

Mr. Amos Wekesa is among the major players in tourism sector. As an entrepreneur in the sector, he has seen the face of Uganda tourism transform and grow to what it is today, however he says there is much to be done to boost Ugandan tourism in the region and in the Diaspora.

"This is one of the many sectors with untapped potential yet the most under looked in the nation, there is little to show compared to what our neighbours in Kenya and Tanzania have to offer," says Mr Wekesa.
Uganda has the best top ten national parks but has the lowest number of tourists in the bloc.
According to the industry players there is less or poor marketing of Uganda's heritage, its wild animals and its beautiful scenery and yet these are increasingly becoming a lucrative source of foreign exchange income for the country.
Unlike two decades ago, when the tourism industry was a reserve of foreign investors, Mr Wekesa says that down the road in his 15 years of operation in the tour and travel industry, local investors are now coming on board and this is of great significance to Uganda's tourism businesses.

He adds, "It's time the local population starts promoting tourism since its one of the lucrative sectors and has great potential to creating employment. Today, thousands of Ugandans are directly and indirectly involved in a chain of supportive economic activities like tour guiding, transport, arts and craft making, accommodation and catering."

Potential
Uganda's tourism sector has a lot of untapped resources and holds massive opportunities for anyone who would like to set up an investment in Uganda in any field concerning tourism. According to Mr Wekesa ,Uganda is really gifted by nature and its one of the countries in the world with favourable climate; able to accommodate all global seasonal trends. Uganda is also a home to many different species of birds with many inhabiting the Ssese Island.

The restoration of peace and stability in northern Uganda brings renewed hope for potential growth of Uganda's tour and travel business. The history of a two decade war is definitely a story that many would like to see just like the Rwanda Genocide sites which have continued to attract tourists and are able to bring out the emotional tragedy. There are many people in the world who would like to visit such places and this shows how much prospects Uganda has in store for tourism attractions.

Experts say the traditional hospitality of the Ugandan people is one of the major advantages the country has. The people in the country are good at providing a warm welcome to foreign guests and this makes them feel at home.

The source of the River Nile has over the years contributed a lot of foreign revenue to Egypt contrary to Uganda where the source of the great river lies. Very few tourist sites have been established.The Nile alone should earn the country a lot of money if there was clear marketing strategies in the country.
However players in this sector anticipate potential growth after the government has shown interest in boosting the industry in realization of the impact it has to domestic growth and creation of employment due to its high trickledown effect.

The increasing air travel operators have played a key role in making traveling more affordable as these companies thrive to attract clients and this has helped the sector. Experts says that the elaborate air travel and the upgrading of road infrastructure will make it easy for tourist attraction sites to be accessible.

Setbacks
Although Uganda has the capacity to promote tourism, Mr. Wekesa attributes the slow growth of tourism to poor marketing schemes. Over the years the number of tourists visiting Uganda has increased from 43,062 in 2000 to over 500,000, but Uganda's tourism sector still lags behind.

"Uganda has ten recognized national parks very few people know this for a fact, that's why you find tourists visiting neighboring Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Egypt because they widely market their countries unlike Uganda," says Wekesa
Dealing with people require high level of professionalism which is one of the key areas that are affecting Uganda as a nation in promoting tourism. Mr Wekesa says most of the service providers in hospitality business are foreign employees because the locals have little interest in the industry.

Recently during the discussion with National Geographic Society on "Partnership Approaches to Marketing Uganda Internationally," held at Metropole Hotel, Mr. Chris Seek, president of Solimar International, a consulting and marketing firm from Ghana said that the lack of coordination among the players in the tourism industry has by far affected the sector negatively.

"Lack of collaboration will hurt the sector since working on your own will only be a sole factor. However if these efforts are brought together, more will be achieved, South Africa is one of the vivid examples of such coordination and how it can revive the industry," adds Mr Seek.