The Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) in collaboration with the Uganda High Commission in Malaysia are currently hosting a group of 10 Malaysian tour operators including one journalist, a representative from the Ethiopian airlines and one official from the Uganda High Commission in Malaysia to a tour experience of Uganda.
The group jetted in earlier in the week and will be in the country until February 25, 2019. The group has so far visited, the Uganda Wildlife Education Center in Entebbe, Chimpanzee Sanctuary on Ngamba Island, Igongo Cultural Center in Mbarara, and Queen Elizabeth National Park in Kasese and are now enroute Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Kigezi for the Mountain Gorilla encounter and experience.
According to one of the visiting tour operators from Malaysia, Mr. Athman A. Aziz, Uganda’s beauty and hospitality is amazing and has never met kinder people than Ugandans. “Uganda is such a beautiful country and is has so much to be seen. I was mostly amazed by the beautiful sceneries, the chimpanzee sanctuary on Ngamba Island, the amazing stories of the diverse cultures of the people of Uganda and the abundance of food. Ugandans too are warm and kind people. The trip is so far a delight and I cannot wait to encourage Malaysians to visit,” Othman said.
Speaking on behalf of UTB, outgoing CEO, Stephen Asiimwe said that this trip speaks into the country’s efforts to continuously market Uganda as Africa’s premier destination. “As the Uganda Tourism Board expands marketing efforts to Asia, this trip comes as a great opportunity to showcase Uganda to Malaysian travel agents; with the aim to increase travel trade between the two countries and ultimately the number of visitors coming to Uganda from Malaysia and the Asian continent at large,” Asiimwe said. He added, we also anticipate that this trip will result into more visitors from Malaysia.
“Last year, Malaysia was the host country for the Miss Tourism World pageant; which saw Uganda’s Miss Tourism Margaret Kankwanzi participate and make it to the top 10 finalists. In collaboration with Uganda’s high commission in Malaysia, Kankwanzi presented Uganda’s tourism to a group of tour operators; which activity led to this trip,”Asiimwe said.
Asia is one of Uganda’s source markets registering more business visits compared to leisure. According to the Tourism Performance Report (2017), Uganda received 71, 169 tourist arrivals from Asian countries. The numbers are poised to grow as the Uganda Tourism Board deepens aggressive marketing campaigns in various Asian countries such as Malaysia, China and Japan.