China envoy tips Ugandans on tourism

Chinese Ambasador to Uganda Zheng Zhu Qiang (left) chats with Tourism minister Ephraim Kamuntu during the Giants Club Conservation and Tourism Investment Forum in Kampala last week. Centre is Mr Oliver Poole, the editor of the Standard Newspaper in the United Kingdom. PHOTO BY STEPHEN OTAGE

Kampala. The Chinese Ambassador to Uganda has asked Ugandan tour and travel agencies to create partnerships with Chinese travel agencies to attract more Chinese tourists to Uganda.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Giants Club Conservation and Tourism Investment Forum in Kampala on Wednesday, Mr Zheng Zhu Qiang said Chinese travel agencies are finding it hard to sell travel packages to Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania because they are booked throughout the year yet Uganda has more tourism products to offer.
“Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa are congested and it is becoming difficult to make bookings, yet Uganda has all the sceneries and more animals, especially the Mountain Gorillas that people want to see,” he said.
He noted that last month, he met a group of Chinese tourists who came to discover what Uganda has to offer emphasising that the customers that Ugandan agencies should be targeting are the Chinese tour and travel agencies which sell the destinations to the Chinese visitors.
“Ugandan agencies should start participating in the Chinese travel expos. Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa do it a lot. This is where they meet their customers. You need to produce promotional videos that market your products in China,” he said.
Mr Justus Karuhanga, Uganda’s representative of the Space for Giants, observed that Uganda’s Eco-tourism Estate which comprises of all the national parks is still of low value because of low investments in the national parks and yet opening up the national parks to investors, would attract investors who would build high end properties in the national parks to attract more foreign exchange and good quality facilities.
Tourism minister Ephraim Kamuntu, who presided over the meeting, said the opening up of the national parks to conservation tourism will encourage restocking of the animals in the game parks and conservation of the species, which in turn, is expected to boost tourism.