Tourism expo attracts 18 countries

Tourists drive through one of the tourism sites during one of the activities of the tourism expo. Photo by Eseri Watsemwa

According to Uganda Tourism Board’s (UTB) Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Asiimwe, 18 countries will be represented at the expo through hosted buyers and international media.
“We are also elated because the president of the World Tourism Organisation has confirmed presence. We will also be launching the East Africa tourism portal under which Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda will be working in promoting tourism,” Asiimwe said.
He added that UTB will be holding a number of meetings particularly taking tourism business. The expo will be climaxed with the Tourism Excellence Awards, which Asiimwe says have been a result of both the private sector and government. They will be held next Sunday.
UTB’s CEO says they have taken a couple of strides as a young expo. “We have managed to learn from older expos like Kenya’s Magical Kenya Tourism Expo where we have interacted and also made strategic partners.

He adds: “By our standards, we have achieved so much and gone so far, and that is partly because we have a good product, of good wildlife, nature, weather, security, welcoming people, facilities and nightlife. Last night (Monday), we had a welcome cocktail for hosted buyers and they partied until about 3am.”
With Shs1 billion to spend for the expo, Asiimwe says the board is running behind capacity and could have done more. “UTB got support from World Bank which has been helpful in arranging flights, covering accommodation, conference rooms, entertainment and other logistics for the expo. We are still dealing with the challenge of capacity as we learn from last year’s mistakes especially organisational hitches. We took on more than we could chew. This year we received overwhelming interest. We got more than 100 applications from international media but were able to accommodate 65,” he said.