Understanding our refreshed tourism destination brand

On January 21, the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), launched the long-awaited tourism destination brand— Explore Uganda, The Pearl of Africa.

The refreshed brand— which was officially unveiled by President Museveni, is a 2-in-1 expression of the diversity and richness of Uganda’s tourism attractions and an invitation to all Ugandans to discover and experience the pearl. 
It acknowledges and seeks to differentiate Uganda as a destination of multiple experiences in one unique place and positions us as the most competitive destination in Africa and the world to tourists and tourism investors alike.

At the core of this new brand, there are three important elements, and these are: The pearl of Africa: This is our legacy as a country that is deeply rooted both in history and the present. It underlines the worth; the value and by extension, the high return on investment that this rarity and uniqueness presents to tourists and by extension, to tourism investors looking to maximise value in a destination. 

Explore Uganda: This is the call to action. An invitation to our tourists- both domestic, regional and international to rediscover the magnificence of the Pearl. We are telling the world that Uganda is not just a destination for travellers, but rather a journey of multiple experiences, fused in one destination. 

That is why we adjusted the previous call to action- Visit Uganda and replaced it with Explore Uganda. 

Adventure of a lifetime: This is the brand value proposition or what we want stakeholders to think about destination Uganda every time they think of us. It is the reason to believe—it is the why; the justification of why they should Explore Uganda, the Pearl of Africa. It is also a reminder to our Ugandan service providers of what should be delivered to the customer, every time. 

Unlike many countries, Uganda is a destination that is not only packed with everything rare, precious and beautiful but these resources are also concentrated in an even smaller geographical area. This creates higher value for money and or return on investment because tourists experience more variety and diversity on any one itinerary/safari than anywhere else on the continent.  

This is why over and above our Pearl of Africa credentials, it is not uncommon to hear Uganda often described as a “birding paradise in the heart of Africa”; “the primate capital of Africa” and amongst the youthful travellers’ segment, Kampala is known as the ‘Entertainment Capital of East Africa’.  

With all the above attractions- it is not only the tourists that are spoilt for choice- but even for the various players in the tourism sectors especially us as the national tourism agency as well as for the thousands of the tourism private sector players, there was a lack of clarity and consistency on, if Uganda is the Pearl of Africa- what are the different crystals that make up the Pearl?  

For Destination Uganda, to build a great brand; to move from being a destination that not only promises an adventure of a lifetime, to becoming a destination that consistently delivers this lifetime experience, but there must also be a mutually shared value proposition by all of Uganda’s tourism ecosystem and a shared commitment to deliver this proposition to all our visitors all the time, at all the touchpoints.  

We are very excited about the new destination brand and what it heralds for our tourism sector and by extension our country Uganda.  I urge us all to do our best to deliver a lifetime experience to our tourists. But we cannot sell a promise that we have not lived ourselves.

Ms Lilly Ajarova is the chief executive officer of the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB)