Gov’t, Irish Embassy sign deal to promote equator
Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) chief executive officer, Lilly Ajarova (centre); Ireland Second Secretary Cormac Shine (right)and L C5 chairman Kayabwe Peter Mutalaze (left) pose for a photo at the equator. PHOTO/TOM BRIAN ANGURINI
Government through Uganda Tourism Board and Irish Embassy Uganda have signed a memorandum of understanding to promote the equator.
This was in Kayabwe District during celebrations to mark St Patrick’s Day.
Traditionally, Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick, is a cultural and religious celebration held every 17th March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick, the foremost patron saint of Ireland.
Saint Patrick dedicated his life in the fifth century by promoting Ireland as a tourist destination and preaching the gospel and converted many into catholic faith.
During the MOU signing, Ms Lilly Ajarova, the UTB chief executive officer said in their quest to expand country’s tourism product base, UTB had concluded an audit and profiling of the Equator as a tourism product and the next phase will be an elaborate investment into making this a world class tourism site.
“This event is timely, at a time, we have just kicked off a campaign to restart our tourism sector; the Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo that seeks to highlight this unique competitiveness,” she said.
She said Ireland is one of our emerging tourism markets and “we believe that with the upcoming direct flights from Europe, via Uganda Airlines, we shall begin to see a two-way growth of visitors and business between our two countries.”
According to Ms Ajorova, Uganda boasts of 7 percent of the Global Mammal Diversity or 39 percent of Africa’s Mammal Richness 19 species of primates, including 53.9 percent of the World’s remaining population of mountain gorillas.
