Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) led by the Board Chairman Daudi Migereko has met with the German Ambassador to Uganda, Mathias Schauer and discussed potential strategies that could be adapted by Uganda’s tourism industry in further strengthening ties with the German tourism source market.
The German market is one of the three core markets of Uganda’s tourism closely followed by the UK, Ireland, and the North American market. The steadily growing economy of Germany has seen people indulge more in travel, something that they are popularly recognized for.
In his remarks Migereko applauded Schauer for the support of the Uganda Tourism Industry in their bid to recover, rebuild, reconnect and reboot the Ugandan tourism sector after the negative effects from the Pandemic.
“Tourism is the number one foreign exchange earner for the country and because of that, UTB is doing different activities to boost the sector back to its glory days both domestically and internationally to make sure the status continues on.” He added
Part of the activities being championed is the Annual Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo 2021that was launched recently under the theme; Restarting Tourism for Regional Economic Development and is scheduled to take place in April from the 27th to 29th and the German speaking market is one of the target audience for the Virtual Expo.
“It has been many years that Uganda has invested in marketing itself in the German speaking market,” said Lilly Ajarova, CEO, UTB.
“UTB believes that the German Embassy, through its guidance, could be a window in attracting more German arrivals into the country. This should eventually contribute a great deal in the recovery of the industry from the strenuous effects of the global pandemic.” Lilly said.
“Tourism I think is really a huge resource you have in this country and I am very happy to assist you in any way I can in tapping this resource,” said Schauer,
He emphasized that environmental impact of tourism is something that most tourists pay a lot of attention to and advised that the tourism industry keep an eye on it especially with matters to do with cleanliness of the environment and sustainability of resources.
Muhwezi, UTB vice Chairman emphasized the need to offer training to hotel employees seeing as service delivery is at the top of every travelers list. She suggested the formation of professional partnerships in the form of exchange programs between German and Ugandan hotel owners which would see both parties travelling in turns to either offer training or be trained.
In the same breath, Kirya, Board member of UTB mentioned that UTB is looking to strengthen its partnerships with the German Chamber of Commerce so as to gain leeway to tap into industries existing under this umbrella such as advertising and travel trade to help boost the market further.
