Martin Magarra the state minister for Tourism Wildlife and Antiquities has applauded the Explore Uganda- the Pearl of Africa program aiming at promoting domestic tourism in the country.
In 2022, the Explore Uganda -The Pearl of Africa campaign was launched by President Museveni with the aim of revamping the country’s tourism sector which was greatly affected by the covid-19 pandemic.
“Explore Uganda campaign is as a strategy to reimage the country’s tourism and put Uganda in a competitive position as an internationally recognized tour destination.” President Museveni described.
“The Explore Uganda campaign has greatly contributed to the current upward trend in domestic tourism which was not the case before.” Speaking about the achievement of the different activities under the program, Mugarra said.
He added saying that their target for Ugandans is one million for domestic tourism however the number of Ugandans visiting the protected areas has increased to 839,000 up from 132,000.
During pre-covid-19 pandemic, tourism sector was bringing in 1.6 billion dollars however the minister said that this year they need more interventions to bring in more money in the sector.
Mugarra explained that Explore Uganda is one of the many interventions we are doing as a ministry and government to see that tourism comes back to its glory and even goes beyond. Before COVID tourism was bringing in around USD 1.6 billion but probably in the next four years we want it to bring in even USD 5 billion and we believe this can be achieved if we have the right support and the structures
Although Martin Magarra and the team are targeting bigger international market, they are the spotlighting of the key sites in the different parts of the country is mainly targeting the local market. The government is not only achieving in marketing outside but also developing Uganda’s products
“The campaign has not only helped in increasing visitor numbers to the protected areas but has also helped to maintain the visitors.” the Director for Tourism and Business Development at the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) Stephen Masaaba said.
Money collected in tourism sector some goes to local communities surrounding the protected areas as well as other one goes to conservation areas.
