Stakeholders upbeat as Uganda registers an increase in the number of tourists arrivals

The Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities (MTWA) has reported a steady and exponential improvement in the performance of the tourism sector in the year 2022 with tourist arrivals increasing.

The good news was delivered by Basil Ajer, the director of tourism at the ministry while releasing the Tourism Sector Performance Report 2022 to the Private Sector players, the media & other tourism stakeholders.

Ajer noted that before COVID-19, the tourism sector was the leading foreign exchange earner bringing in $1.6b and contributing about 8% to Uganda’s GDP. Tourist arrivals were estimated at 500, 000 per year.

He however stated that the numbers plummeted in 2020 at the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic. “The sector was registering massive business losses since travelling was brought to the minimum,” Ajer said.

“The ease in the restrictions along with aggressive marketing and development interventions in the sector led to an exponential increase in tourist arrivals from January to December 2022,” he explained.

Tom Butime, the tourism minister, revealed that Uganda received over 800, 000 international visitor arrivals in the country which is an increase of 59%.

He recommended that more strategies should be put in place to fascinate tourists for a longer stay since a larger proportion of tourists come to Uganda to visit friends and family, with leisure and business taking a smaller share.

“This means there is still a huge untapped potential in overseas source markets. There is a need to invest more heavily in product development and marketing and promotion to attract more leisure and MICE tourists with a longer stay and larger expenditure in the country,” he noted.

Doreen Katusiime, the ministry’s permanent secretary, said tourism is to remain the flagship contribution to GDP. Because of this, the private sector should carry on working with the government to boost the sector since it is private-sector driven.

She added that along with the top international experts on tourism like the UN World Tourism Organization and the World Travel and Tourism Council, tourism in Uganda and around the world will fully recover to the pre-pandemic levels and beyond by 2025.

“On our road to recovery, we have seen a significant increase in tourist arrivals to Uganda which had fallen to an all-time low of 473,085 tourists in 2020. Most of the visitors we continue to receive are from African countries such as Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan as well as overseas visitors,” she noted.

The Uganda Hotel Owners Association Executive Director, Jean Byamugisha, explained to Charmar News that the exponential increase in tourist numbers was evidenced by the accommodation margins.

She however asks the government to consider prioritizing policies that will favour tourists and hence boost the economy.

Some of the key initiatives that supported tourism performance to generate Shs2.7 billion from visitor exports are international destination campaigns like uniquely yours, uniquely ours, full operation of Uganda Airlines in 2022, digital marketing campaigns and promotions and domestic tourism events.