20 scoop World Tourism Day awards
Ugandan musician Eddy Kenzo receives an award from Parliament Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa during the World Tourism Day celebrations in Kampala on September 29, 2022. PHOTO/HANDOUT
What you need to know:
- Singer Eddy Kenzo was also awarded for the passion and promotion of tourism through music while Cheptegei was awarded for the passion and promotion of tourism through sports.
Government has awarded 20 organisations and individuals for their contribution to the development of the tourism sector in the country.
The awards were given during the commemoration of World Tourism Day on Tuesday in Kampala.
Among the awarded are the United Nations Development Programme, World Bank, Embassy of Hungary, and European Union. The government said these were awarded because of their “dedicated support towards sustainable tourism development in Uganda.”
The other people who were awarded include the long distance runner and reigning 5,000 metres Olympic champion Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei; Mr Sudhir Ruparelia and Hajj Omar Mandela for their investment, innovation, passion and leadership in hospitality and tourism development.
Singer Eddy Kenzo was also awarded for the passion and promotion of tourism through music while Cheptegei was awarded for the passion and promotion of tourism through sports.
Speaking at the event, Mr Martin Mugara, the State Minister of Tourism, said the sector is recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“By mid-this year, 532,000 visitors came into the country and by end of the year, we expect to have received about 1 million. It may not reach 1.5 million visitors [the targeted number]. The money is coming. So we are recovering slowly,” he said.
He added: “Recently, there was a new scare of Ebola but we have managed this disease before and my prayer is that it doesn’t affect the sector again.”
The country’s tourism earnings in 2020 dropped by 73 percent to $0.5 billion dollars due to the pandemic, down from $1.5 billion in 2019, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa, who was the chief guest at the event, congratulated the players in the tourism sector on their resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Tayebwa asked Ugandans to market the country’s tourism potential and called for an urgent end to visa requirements for Africans visiting the continent.
“We can’t uphold such barriers to tourism and trade like unnecessary visa restrictions on ourselves and expect transformation,” he said.
He asked the Uganda Tourism Board and private players to develop packages for Ugandans to promote domestic tourism.
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