Adventure Vacation Safaris with support from Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), Private Sector Foundation (PSFU) and Uganda Tourism Association (UTA), are currently hosting a domestic Tourism promotional tour dubbed ‘’Fellowship on the Nile’’.
The campaign commenced Friday 25, and will stretch to March 27, 2022 at Murchison Falls National Park in Buliisa District.
According to UTB, the campaign is a unique opportunity to roll-out the new destination brand ‘Explore Uganda’’.
The tour is geared towards inspiring Ugandans to visit the destination’s prized tourism sites and attractions across the Country with 50 leaders of Rotary clubs across Uganda taking part.
While flagging off the group at Pope Paul Memorial Hotel in Rubaga, UTB Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Bradford Ochieng lauded the private sector for the initiative and highlighted the urge to increase both domestic and international tourism visits as the Covid 19 pandemic comes to an end.
He noted that tourism is poised to remain the country’s biggest foreign exchange earner.
Ochieng mentioned that ‘’ pre-pandemic, Uganda’s tourism sector was one of the fastest growing sectors. The sector generated GDP US$1.6 billion in Forex earnings for 2018 compared to US$1.45 billion in 2017, accounted for 7.7% of the national GDP. While, Number of international visitor arrivals increased by 7.4% from 1,402,409 in 2017 to 1,505,669 in 2018.”
Adding, “However, with the pandemic, the country received 512,945 tourists in 2021. Therefore, to return to the pre pandemic arrivals, UTB developed a Strategic Plan and a Recovery Marketing Strategy to propel the sector to recovery through interventions such as domestic tourism promotion and destination branding.”
However, he believes that the partnership will tap into the opportunities presented by the tour to position Uganda as a favourite leisure and MICE tourism destination.
Ochieng said that UTB unveiled the new brand ‘Explore Uganda’ to communicate and position Uganda as a highlights reel of all that is rare, precious and beautiful in Africa.
The new brand promise seeks to reemphasise Uganda’s rare depth, beautiful range and precious variety of attractions for a competitive market share.
The PSFU Chief Membership Officer, Frabcis Kisirinya noted that through the PSFU Economic Recovery Programme, they are endeavoring to encourage Ugandans to visit tourism sites
Kisirinya noted that when Ugandans play a role, the tourism sector, will recover quicker and build resilience, but also stop relying om foreigners.
Farouk Busuulwa, the Managing Director – Adventure Vacation Safaris revealed that the partnership will inspire Rotary leaders and club members to visit the country’s prized tourism attractions starting off with Murchison Falls Park which has several unique features; famous big five animal species, a watershed that connects River Nile from its source in Jinja city to Egypt to drain into the Mediterranean Sea.
‘’The Fellowship on the Nile domestic tourism promotional tour will emphasize the Pearl of Africa brand’s invitation for travellers to Explore: delve into, deep dive, discover and continuous rediscover the rare depth, range and variety of attractions in the Pearl. And given that, international borders and the aerospace is open, the Board looking forward to growing the sector together and revive pre-pandemic tourist numbers and beyond,” he said.
Peace Taremwa, the incoming District Governor for district 9214; Uganda and Tanzania added that the partnership is a great initiative that will showcase Uganda’s endowment.
‘’Other than people going for foreign trips abroad, Covid – 19 exposed the beauty within our backyard, its time for Ugandans to appreciate the country’s diverse and unique tourist attractions including; freshwater bodies, flora and fauna, diverse cultures, hospitality, temperate climate, culinary among others,” Taremwa said.
The team will participate in various activities at Murchison Falls National Park including; day and night game drives, zip lining, boat cruises, nature walks, a business fellowship, picnic Sundowners and hiking at the top of the falls.