Number of tourists up as aviation sector grows

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has reported a significant increase in the number of international passengers handled at Entebbe International Airport following the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions as cases decline.

Statistics from the CAA indicate that more than 1.2 million international passengers were facilitated through Entebbe in the 2021/2022 financial year compared to 580,238 in the previous year, which was adversely affected by the pandemic. 

However, the number of travellers registered in the FY2021/2022 is still far below the 1.7 million handled in the FY2018/2019, according to CAA data.

“A comparison of the 2021/2022 financial year passenger traffic performance with that of the 2018/2019 financial year reflects a 71.9 percent recovery,” Mr Vianney Luggya, the CAA spokesperson, said.

“Full recovery of the aviation industry to pre-pandemic levels is expected in the financial year 2023/2024. This is also in line with international aviation bodies’ predictions, which earlier indicated that full recovery would require a minimum of two years,” he added.

Between 2020 and 2021, the industry was greatly affected due to some of the national and international policies aimed at reducing the spread of Covid-19  but countries later eased them. 

“Whenever restrictions are eased, it becomes easier for passengers. The recovery is partly because of the vaccination of people across the globe, which has led to a relaxation of some of the previously stringent travel measures requiring passengers to undertake multiple PCR tests,” Mr Luggya said.

He added that several other confidence-building measures have been implemented at Entebbe airport and others across the globe. 

The increase in the number of international passengers has also been attributed to more tourist arrivals, according to the Association of Uganda Tour Operators (AUTO).

“The number of tourists has also increased. It has coincided with the months that many tourists come in –between June and October. They are majorly coming from Germany, Britain and Spain,” AUTO told this newspaper.

“Business has started to pick up and we are hopeful that we will return to pre-pandemic levels,” the association added.

Mr Deogratious Muhumuza, the director of Uganda Eco-Tours, said he didn’t handle any tourists in 2020 but has handled more than 40 this year.

The country’s tourism earnings in 2020 dropped by 73 percent to $0.5 billion due to the pandemic, down from $1.5 billion in 2019, according to the Ministry of Tourism.