Selling the pearl of Africa worldwide

In a bid to raise Uganda’s tourism flag higher, Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) has been spreading the word about Uganda’s diverse and breath-taking travel experiences across the US and Canada. This, according to UTB’s spokesperson, Vincent Mugaba, was part of a multi-city road-show organised by its (UTB’s) appointed North American public relations and marketing firm, Preferred Hospitality Group (PHG Consulting).
PHG Consulting has played a part in promoting Uganda to the North American market through strategic direct sales and marketing efforts, public and media relations; and integrated promotions since last year in May where it made more than 50 bookings.

UTB’s chief executive officer, Stephen Asiimwe, says the tourism body engaged other companies such as Kamageo and KPRN network in engaging the media, newspapers, radios, television, tour and travel companies or Destination Management Companies (DMCs) to market Uganda’s sites overseas.
“PHG is spreading the ‘Ugandan Gospel’ in Austria and Switzerland, Kamageo is working in the UK and Islands while KPRN is working in Germany,” Asiimwe explains, adding that one of the activities of the PR firms is to mobilise journalists and send them on familiarisation trips to Uganda to experience first-hand, so that they write about the country and their tourism experiences back home.

Mugaba says the PR and marketing firms are meant to manage negative travel advisory or change perceptions by engaging citizens so as to change their attitude towards Uganda. “Companies such as PHG represent Uganda’s tourism interests by looking for companies and engaging them to choose Uganda as a first place to go to, in addition to handling media relations,” he notes.
A delegation including Asiimwe, Tourism ministry permanent secretary Doreen Silver Katusiime, and James Ssebagala, UTB Quality Assurance Coordinator travelled to North America to meet with select journalists, tour operators, and travel agents during two exclusive media breakfasts, and a series of one-on-one meetings.
During the road-show, prominent media houses such as National Geographical Channel, Toronto Star, travel magazines such as Times Square which tracks the largest number of tourists, broadcasted and published articles on Uganda’s tourism offerings.

Positive signs
Also, in the last trip, Asiimwe says, the group was privileged to address a media breakfast in Toronto and Washington DC. “I went to the Washington Post, one of the most prominent publications and also had the Ugandan heritage celebrations at the World Bank. I strongly believe this exposure will give Uganda’s tourism some mileage.”
Asiimwe says for once the group noticed that most people in North America were unfamiliar with Uganda’s pearls. For instance, tourists would go to Kenya to watch gorillas in Kenya and only come to Uganda as an add-on. This is because most of them are unaware that even a child can track gorillas in Uganda. Therefore with this awareness and exposure, the number of visits will essentially increase.
Additionally, there is a brighter future for Uganda’s tourism as the Uganda embassy in Washington DC doubled the number of visa applications to Uganda. This, according to Asiimwe is a positive sign.

The fruits
In March, it was reported that tourist numbers from North American (The US and Canada) increased and tour operators directly selling Uganda leisure travel packages more than doubled from 2015 to 2016. The rise in numbers, according to UTB officials was largely attributed to increased marketing efforts by UTB through North American’s PHG Consulting firm.
Undeniably, Germany and Europe are Uganda’s biggest tourism market, which perhaps explains UTB’s efforts in marketing Uganda’s pearls in that direction.
Remarkably, since Uganda received media publicity worth nearly $4 million (Shs14.6 billion), a lot more is expected by the end of the year for which the firms were hired. From such interventions, UTB expects tourists from US to increase from 49,414 in 2015 to at least 60,000 this year; tourists from United Kingdom to increase from 40,851 in 2015 to 60,000 in 2017 and tourists from Germany to increase from 9,585 in 2015 to at least 15,000.

Prospects

Uganda Tourism Board expects tourists from US to increase from 49,414 in 2015 to at least 60,000 this year; tourists from United Kingdom to increase from 40,851 in 2015 to 60,000 in 2017 and tourists from Germany to increase from 9,585 in 2015 to at least 15,000.

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