Getting Ugandans to love own country

On April 25, 2010, Sunday Monitor ran an analysis on why domestic tourism has not taken root in Uganda. About two months after we asked the hard questions, the government and private sector players in the tourism industry, with the support of the United States government, launched a campaign aimed at wooing more ordinary Ugandans to national parks and other tourist sites. But what should Ugandans expect? Benon Herbert Oluka analyses the government’s strategy: -

How does Uganda nurture a hitherto non-existent culture of its citizens regularly visiting national parks and related tourist sites as a habitual part of their leisure activities?
This is a question that has been at the centre of policy debates on the state of Uganda’s tourism industry.

Then in early July, the government and its partners said they had mapped out a formula of turning ordinary Ugandans into local tourists. A team of officials from the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Industry, the American Embassy in Kampala, and private sector players in the tourism industry headed to Kyambura Game Lodge in the newly created western Ugandan district of Rubirizi for the launch of a campaign to promote domestic tourism.

Rubirizi District is home to, among others, Queen Elizabeth National Park; perhaps the most ideal location for the launch of such a campaign since it boasts of the largest number of visits by Ugandans and has, according to officials, been identified as the best destination for domestic tourism due to its accessibility by public transport.

During the official launch of the campaign, which took place recently, the Executive Director of Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), Mr Moses Mapesa, (currently on suspension) noted that domestic tourism numbers have grown considerably. Statistics compiled by UWA show that the numbers of local tourists have risen from 16,766 in 2003 to 29,884 nearly a decade later.

However, with the current figures indicating that domestic tourism contributes only an average of 15 per cent of all tourists visiting national parks in an economy where tourism contributes at least 8 per cent to Uganda’s Gross Domestic Product every year, Mr Mapesa adds that they want the numbers to grow even faster going forward.

“You can see the trend is upwards,” he said. “With this renewed effort, we should target to see 100,000 Ugandans coming in to Queen Elizabeth in the next five years and up to 200,000 students.”

But how will such targets be reached in a country where national park entry charges for local tourists are already as low as at least half of what foreign tourists pay?
According to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade, Mr Julius Onen, the key to realising the domestic tourism dream is in the strategy recently prepared by UWA. It has three major elements.

The first, says Mr Onen, is improvement of infrastructure in tourist destinations. Explaining the strategy to Business Power, Mr Onen said Uganda already has some of the basic infrastructure needed to boost local tourism.

“With the improved roads, people will be able to drive much more freely. For instance, you can go to Gulu in four hours, watch a cultural festival and come back [to Kampala] in the evening because it is possible,” he asked.

Mr Onen, however, acknowledges that other options need to be developed in order to accommodate Ugandans who cannot, for instance, drive themselves to and from the tourist sites. He said the government would support the private sector, which is the major player in the tourism service industry, to enable them develop sufficient capacity to serve locals.

“Not all of us can afford to stay in expensive facilities so how can we invest in more affordable, pocket friendly accommodation within the tourism circuit? And how can we engage more in public-private partnership particularly in supporting the private sector in terms of accessing financial resources which can then allow them to make investments in tourism?” he asked.

Where the private sector does not have the interest to develop such facilities, according to Mr Onen, the government will step in. Two of those areas are providing low cost transportation and accommodation facilities to local tourists who cannot afford the cheapest offers that private sector players provide.

“We need to make tourism affordable. We are thinking if we put a bus [in Kampala] and every Friday it is leaving for Paraa, the return trip to Paraa is Shs25,000, there are four lodges in Pakwach, each one charging Shs30,000 and entry to the park is (minimal).”

Mr Onen says they are not going into unchartered waters. He explains that providing such low cost facilities is a model tried and tested at the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) in Entebbe – with consistent success.

“UWEC in Entebbe runs a shuttle over the weekends. They pack at the Constitutional Square and they are overwhelmed. They run like six shuttles a day,” he said.

However, while the strategy seems plausible, its architects know that local tourists will not flood the parks immediately. Mr Mapesa says one of the major obstacles they are likely to face is the ingrained perception that tourism is a reserve for foreigners.

“We now have a middle class with disposable income. I don’t want to agree that part of the problem is affordability. I think it is planning and perception,” said Mr Mapesa.

Mr Onen says in order to achieve their targets, players in the tourism industry – both public and private – will have to go out of their way to attract Ugandans to the tourist sites. It is another area where he believes lessons from the tested UWEC model are valuable.

“UWEC participates in all the trade fairs. They take their pythons to all these fairs and excite people. They have officers for schools. They go visiting all these schools and give them the programmes. They have very cheap accommodation in Entebbe for students. They have very well equipped dormitories and very good food. In their canteen, the lunch is Shs500 for students so all these need to be brought on board,” he said.

Mr Onen believes that the sector will also thrive with greater involvement by the local communities where the tourist sites are located. He said: “You can only sustain foreign tourism if the local people themselves first embrace it and add value and improve on the quality of standards.”

The US government, through its Usaid-sponsored Sustainable Tourism in the Albertine Rift (STAR) initiative, has already offered $6 million (about Shs12 billion) over the next five years to help improve the competitiveness of Uganda’s tourism industry.

“Through Usaid’s STAR project, our efforts will focus specifically on helping Uganda realise its competitive tourism potential in the southern Albertine Rift that has Bwindi and Mgahinga Gorilla National Parks, and the northern Albertine Rift with the Rwenzori Mountains, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Budongo Forest and Murchison Falls National Park,” said the US Ambassador to Uganda, Mr Jerry Lanier.

“Our STAR programme helps communities to derive benefits from tourism investments and inflows by enabling them to provide market-driven products and services that increase tourists’ time and expenditure on the local community,” he added.

Mr Lanier says they are backing the campaign because: “It is the best way to build a local constituency that will support conservation of tourism resource base, specifically wildlife, for Uganda’s future generations.”

The Executive Director of Uganda Tourism Board, Cuthbert Baguma Balinda, says in order to ensure that Uganda does not drop the ball in developing its tourist sector, currently one of the fastest growing at 12 per cent annually, they will tap into the regional potential availed by the recent launch of the East African Common Market.

“With the opening of our borders, it means we have a market of over 120 million people – a sizeable number for domestic and regional tourism,” he said.

But listening to Mr Onen articulate the government strategy, it is clear that he is looking beyond the present. So it is little wonder when, at one point, he says, “The opportunity for this is really the younger generation, and we are glad that school children and colleges are beginning to pick this one up very well.

Most schools now have outing programmes and, believe me, they are Ugandans of the future and they [will] know this country more than most of us.”