The State Minister for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Godfrey Kiwanda, has Tuesday unveiled, Miss World Africa, Quinn Abenakyo, as the tourism ambassador for the country in the next promotional drives.
He was addressing journalists and other tourism partners at Golden Tulip Hotel in Kampala.
Abenakyo, 22, entered local history books in Uganda, when she became the first Ugandan to make the Top-30 list at the Miss World contest, before going on to finish third overall and be crowned Miss World Africa in Sanya, China.
Now, Kiwanda says the Ministry of Tourism needs to utilize her brand and promote Ugada’s tourism potential within and outside the country.
“We have also decided to work with Quiin Abenakyo and our next trip will take place from the 12th of next month. We are going to Eastern region,” Minister Kiwanda said.
“We shall be covering Jinja, Mbale and some parts of Karamoja-Kidepo, then we come back through Acholi – Murchison Falls national park,” Kiwanda explained
The Eastern and North East leg has been dubbed ‘Tulambule with Quiin Abenakyo’. The Minister appealed to the public to take part in the trip.
“I also want to take this opportunity to announce officially as Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities that Abenakyo is the good will ambassador for the tourism industry of Uganda,” he added before thanking her for accepting to work with the ministry as well as promoting the country.
Asked whether Abenakyo’s appointment doesn’t contradict with that of socialite, Zari Hassan, who was announced as a goodwill ambassador last year, Kiwanda said the Ministry has many ambassadors in different places and countries who perform different roles.
“Tourism industry has many ambassadors and by the way, Zari came in, when we already had others. So, we have not stopped on Abenakyo, we shall even get others in the coming months and each, has her own role play. This is about massive mobilization to promote our country,” he explained.
Speaking after being unveiled, Abenakyo, committed to offering her best to raise Uganda’s name high.
“I believe the biggest resource every country posseses, are the people. I shared my story at Miss World and I will continue sharing my story and this is not only for beauty pageants but also sports, entertainment,” she said
“We should share the story with each and everyone. I will do this once again for my country and am proud and honoured to work with the Ministry of Tourism and Uganda Tourism Board to make sure that each and everyone gets to know our story as the pearl of Africa,” Abenakyo explained.
The Minister and other tourism stakeholders used the event to explain their achievements in 2018 and explained their expectations in 2019.
According to the minister, this year’s tourism theme is “Sharing our story in order to achieve bigger tourism numbers through the Digital Transformation era 2019” and the slogan is “Let’s tell our story well”.
