Tourism budget doubled  but is that really enough  to advance the sector?

According to the Ministry Of Finance, Planning And Economic Development budget of 2023-24, the tourism sector has been given more funding so as to improve the tourist attractions in Uganda and their marketing strategies such as the roads, facilities and advertising.

I greatly applaud the government of Uganda for this because according to various reliable sources such as CNN, Uganda is ranked among the top 10 countries with fascinating tourist attractions, however, as a country, it is yet to be marked as a top tourist destination due to the much needed effort for improvement in the sector.

According to a report by Uganda Tourism Consultants, some of the major challenges that have caused this unattractive direction for the tourism industry are; inability to access the tourism destinations due to bad, damaged or inaccessible roads, poor facilities around the tourist attractions and so on, all this can be changed due to the doubled budget for the tourism budget.

However, we encourage the government to promote laws and actively prohibit activities that threaten the sustainable development of our fascinating tourist attractions like our national parks, the lakes and beautiful forests that are home to our wildlife. 

For example, the oil pipeline set to be constructed through Murchison Falls National Park that will most definitely endanger the wildlife, cause human-wildlife conflict, and may affect water supply while also increasing the emission of toxic gases in the surrounding regions.  

Don’t even get me started on the extremely unorthodox levels of deforestation in Bugoma Forest in the name of sugarcane plantation, this is a big shame to the government that authorized these activities.

Let it be noted that the increased negative actions on nature have caused extremely notable negative effects like diverse changes in the weather patterns, flooding, rising temperatures, reduced crop productivity, hence affecting all forms of life; wild, domestic and humans.

The resources offered by the government in the form of financial aid will be of great help and greatly appreciated.

Geraldine Nakato, Program coordinator, EACOP-HC