UTB in search for new boss

Ms Lilly Ajarova will leave Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) at the end of next month.

She leaves after six years as chief executive officer, having replaced Mr Stephen Asiimwe, now the Private Sector Foundation Uganda executive director, in January 2019.

UTB has already started a process in which it will recruit a substantive chief executive officer to replace Ms Ajarova, whose two three-year terms have largely focused on promoting brand Uganda and coordinating implementation of the National Tourism Policy that seeks to increase tourism earnings and arrivals to $3.9b (Shs14.5 trillion) and 3.8 million, respectively by 2033. 

Ms Ajarova, who yesterday said she was handling a delicate project to give details of her time at UTB, confirmed she was leaving. 

“I have served my two contracts. Each contract is three years. Six years was a good time I gave to UTB at the most challenging time,” she said.

Before UTB, Ms Ajarova had worked as the executive director of Ngamba Chimpanzee Sanctuary for 13 years and Uganda Wildlife Authority where she served as the director of tourism and business development.

However, she arrived at UTB just a year before Covid-19 - one of the most chaotic periods - that ravaged the entire tourism value chain. 

A 2020 report by the IMF indicated that tourism arrivals had fallen to almost zero and would take more than three years to recover.

Government had projected arrivals to recover to pre-Covid-19 levels by the end of 2024, but no updates have been provided in this regard.

However, a Tourism Trend and Statistics report released in March last year noted that tourism earnings - which had grown in 2023 to $1.025b - remained below $1.6b pre-Covid-19.

Ms Ajarova leaves a relatively calm tourism promotions agency that had previously experienced chaotic episodes such as underfunding, weak leadership, and leadership struggles characterised by alleged physical fights among top executives.

The leadership challenges were partly highlighted in a November 2017 resignation, in which, the then UTB marketing manager Edwin Muzahura told Mr Asiimwe that the environment at the agency had become extremely difficult for him to continue working in. 

“I find it extremely difficult and unable to serve under the prevailing circumstances both at management and strategic level. I will, therefore, proceed to take my remaining annual and statutory leave in December and will cease to serve effective January 1, 2018,” he wrote then after an alleged disagreement with another top manager.

We could not readily get a comment from Tourism Minister Tom Butime. Phone calls to his known mobile phone contacts went unanswered by press time.

However, yesterday, industry players noted that UTB needed much more than a chief executive officer to drive the sector close to, for example, other East African member states.

Mr Amos Wekesa, the Great Lakes Safaris managing director, said that whereas UTB’s budget had risen from Shs300m in 2008 to Shs27b, more funding was still needed to drive the sector to desired targets.

“Government [ministries and the private sector] must understand how they are directly related to tourism. Private sector players must understand how a functional UTB looks like and should be willing to help push in the same direction,” he said, noting that UTB must also consider instituting targets for any chief executive officer because the same has been used by other countries within East Africa to achieve better results. 

Mr Muhereza Kyamutetera, who was in November appointed Uganda Tourism Association chief executive officer, said the tourism sector has perennially been underfunded, noting that it was, therefore, not surprising that most targets are unmet.

For instance, he said , with just a year left to the end of the Tourism Development Programme, whose goal was to promote domestic and inbound tourism, increase the stock and quality of tourism infrastructure, and develop and diversify tourism products, among others, its overall performance remained at just 57.7 percent.

“To build a competitive destination that fully unlocks the socio-economic impact of tourism, priority must be put on developing and aggressively marketing demand-driven, and unforgettable experiences to domestic, regional, and international clients,” he said, noting that there was need for all stakeholders to focus resources on creating a competitive destination in Uganda.