The Ambassador of the European Union to Uganda, Jan Sadek, has revealed that the European Union is in the approval process of a EUR 15.5 million initiative to support sustainable tourism in Uganda.
Sadek noted that the initiative will serve three objectives including access to finance, increase Uganda’s visibility and attractiveness as a sustainable travel destination, and increase local communities’ participation in tourism as well as benefit from tourism in natural landscapes and their conservation.
He made the remarks at the recently concluded Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo (EXPO) that took place at the Speke Resort Munyonyo.
He noted that tourism was one of the four priority sectors the EU presented and discussed at the recently concluded Uganda-EU Business Forum.
He also pointed out that the EU has worked closely with the Ugandan government and the private sector to advance the tourism industry, underscoring its role in the country’s economy, development and cultural preservation.
Sadek revealed that during the Covid-19, pandemic, the EU together with the Uganda Development Bank put in place a very innovative initiative worth Shs64bn where loans and grants were provided jointly at competitive conditions.
According to Sadek, the initiative at a 7-8% interest rate with 2 years grace period, covers salaries of the staff at hotels and tour operators, but also in 2022, its purpose was expanded to include expenditures meant to go green by investing in improved practices of waste management, energy efficiency with solar panels and the like.
“So far we are supporting 100 hotel and tour operators, and if anyone present here would like to apply for the “UDB-EU Tourism Recovery Facility”, let me inform you that the call for proposals is still open until the UGX 64 billion that was made available are exhausted,” he said.
He noted that the EU and its Member States will continue to invest in sustainable tourism projects and initiatives.
“We will also support efforts to strengthen institutional capacity for tourism management and promote community involvement in tourism development. In addition, we will work closely on initiatives to improve the standards and sustainability of the industry,” he said.
Adding, “If we had to identify the big five in the support to tourism, apart from training and skilling, infrastructure, transport or marketing, I would say that access to finance is definitively one of the main ones. Unless you are already a big company without reserves problems, access to finance is always one of the big headaches and challenges for most entrepreneurs and business persons I come across while discussing the prospects of tourism and hospitality in Uganda.”
Meanwhile, Ramathan Ggoobi, Uganda’s Secretary to the Treasury, emphasized the government’s commitment to the ATM (Agro-industry, Tourism, Mining, Oil and Gas) policy, which prioritizes these sectors in Uganda’s development.
Ggoobi noted that the government is prioritizing tourism as a formidable growth sector of the economy which has been demonstrated through NDP1, NDP2 and now NDP3.