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Hon. Mulimba John, Uganda’s Minister of State for Overseas Affairs, in Cost of Regional Cooperation and Hon.Bahinduka Mugarra Martin, the State Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities are main a delegation of over 200 Ugandan non-public and public sector gamers to the 2nd Uganda-Kenya Coast Tourism Convention 2023.
The Convention is organised by the Consulate Basic of Uganda in Mombasa, the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) in addition to tourism stakeholders in Uganda and on the Kenyan Coast.
The convention runs from the thirteenth -14th November 2023 on the Diani Reef Seashore Resort & Spa’s Diani Reef Conference Centre. Thereafter the Ugandan delegation shall immerse themselves in quite a lot of coastal excursions and experiences. From the twenty second November to 1st December, Uganda may also host the Kenyan delegation to a sequence of Familiarisation Journeys (Fam Journeys) to chose Kenyan tour operators to numerous Ugandan locations and experiences.
The Enterprise to Enterprise (B2B) Convention which runs beneath the theme: “Consolidating Networks, Synergies & Range to maximise the tourism potential between Uganda and Kenya Coastal Area”, gives alternatives for tourism gamers in each international locations to fulfill and discover joint enterprise alternatives.
Over and above delegations from the Ministry of Overseas Affairs and the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, the delegation consists of groups from the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB)- Uganda’s tourism advertising and marketing and regulatory company; the Personal Sector Basis Uganda (PSFU), Uganda’s apex physique for the non-public sector and the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA). The delegation additionally contains non-public sector gamers from the member affiliation of the Confederation of Uganda Tourism Associations (COUTA)⏤ the umbrella physique that brings collectively all tourism associations in Uganda. COUTA represents the unified voice of 9 nationwide associations, namely- Uganda Safari Guides Affiliation (USAGA), Affiliation of Uganda Journey Operators (AUTO), Uganda Group Tourism Affiliation (UCOTA), Uganda Resort House owners Affiliation (UHOA), The Ugandan Affiliation of Journey Brokers (TUGATA), Resort Basic Managers Affiliation of Uganda (HOGMAU), Nationwide Arts & Cultural Crafts Affiliation of Uganda (NACCAU), Uganda Girls in Tourism (UWT) and Uganda Affiliation of Convention Incentive Trade (UACII).
Consolidating and accelerating mutual progress alternatives between Uganda and Kenya Coast
Explaining the strategic significance of the convention to each international locations, Hon John Mulimba stated that Uganda and Kenya already take pleasure in mutual brisk enterprise, together with tourism and due to this fact this convention will each consolidate and speed up the amount and worth of this enterprise relationship.
“Uganda is Kenya’s second greatest supply marketplace for vacationers. In 2022, 150,900 Ugandans visited Kenya. Out of those, 22,200 visited the Kenyan Coast, up from 10,100 in 2021. Likewise, Kenya is Uganda’s main supply marketplace for vacationers. In 2022, 376,294 Kenyans visited Uganda, a rise of over 40,000 vacationers from the 326,387 Kenyans vacationers who visited Uganda in 2021. The growing curiosity for Kenyans to go to Uganda is especially attributable to numerous occasions that happen in Uganda reminiscent of Golf and Rugby tournaments, festivals, and music live shows amongst others. For Ugandans, the principle causes for visiting Kenya Coast are: to benefit from the seashores and the coastal surroundings and options; attend conferences and likewise for training functions. There may be additionally a rising variety of Ugandans who go to Kenya Coast to have their marriage ceremony events or spend their honeymoon at some to of the coastal lodges,” Hon Mulimba, famous.
“The general goal of the convention is to consolidate networks, synergies and variety to maximise the tourism potential between Uganda and Kenya coastal area,” he added.
Expounding additional on the convention’s goals, Uganda’s Consul Basic in Mombasa, Amb. Paul Mukumbya, stated: “The convention can be, amongst different goals geared toward creating extra consciousness in regards to the two locations and the tourism merchandise they provide in addition to improve the synergies and complementarity between key tourism gamers from Uganda and the Kenya coastal area”.
“Constructing on the achievements of final 12 months’s convention, the 2nd Uganda- Kenya Coast Tourism Convention shall proceed to additional discover funding alternatives within the tourism sector in Uganda; present a platform for B2B networking, studying and data sharing in addition to equip the important thing tourism gamers from Uganda and the Kenya coastal area with first-hand expertise of the important thing tourism points of interest in order that they’re in higher place to market these points of interest in addition to promote. The convention may also discover additional methods through which to popularise the Entebbe – Mombasa route operated by the Uganda Airways,” Ambassador Mukumbya added.
Commenting on the convention, Hon.Bahinduka Mugarra Martin stated: “Regional journey has all the time been a key driver of tourism in East Africa however has largely been reliant on East African residents and residents. Given the proximity to one another and the more and more higher connectivity between our countries- Uganda Airways- now flies twice each day to Nairobi, and thrice on Fridays, as nicely thrice to Mombasa. Extending regional journey to incorporate overseas guests will definitely add worth to each our international locations, in addition to create higher and unforgettable experiences for our guests, therefore growing their chance of returning in addition to recommending our two locations.”
Herbert Byaruhanga, the COUTA President welcomed the convention and stated that it matches nicely, throughout the business’s need to develop each the amount and worth of tourism to the area
“Each our destinations- the Kenyan Coast and Uganda have one thing distinctive to supply to guests. Consolidating this complementarity is not going to solely improve the worth proposition and customer experiences however will in medium to longterm improve each the variety of guests, the size of keep and expenditure,” Mr. Byaruhanga stated.
Stephen Asiimwe, the Chief Govt Officer of PSFU, additionally welcomed the convention as a sew in time.
“The Tourism business is one among Uganda’s most strategic sectors, creating livelihoods for about 998,876 establishments- each formal and casual and previous to Covid-19, created a complete variety of 2,572,416 direct and oblique jobs, of whom 759,841 (29.5 per cent) had been male and 1,815,576 (70.5 per cent) had been feminine. This was nevertheless crushed to near-zero by the pandemic. Such joint collaborations in product improvement and vacation spot advertising and marketing/promoting are important to the accelerated restoration of the sector,” Asiimwe reiterated.
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Background to the Uganda- Kenya Coast Tourism Convention
On seventeenth November 2022, the Consulate Basic of Uganda in Mombasa at the side of tourism stakeholders in Uganda and on the Kenya Coast, organised the Uganda- Kenya Coast Tourism Convention and Exhibition in Mombasa. The Convention was adopted by Excursions on the Kenya Coast and a familiarisation journey to Uganda by chosen tour operators from the Kenya Coast.
Contributors from Uganda took half in excursions in Kilifi/ North Coast (Gede ruins/ Arabuko Sokoke/ Vasco da Gama Pillar/ Maraf Hells Kitchen) and Kwale/ South Coast. A staff from Kenya Coast made up of primarily tour operators additionally participated in a fam journey to Uganda the place they visited the next vacationer websites: Uganda Martyrs Shrine Namugongo, Ndere Centre, Lake Mburo Nationwide Park, Bwindi Impenetrable Nationwide Park and Kibale Nationwide Park.
The Convention and fam journey had been rated very profitable by contributors and observers. It was resolved throughout the Convention that the occasion must be annual. Main tourism gamers expressed willingness to proceed constructing synergies and complementarity to collectively promote the completely different tourism merchandise from the 2 locations.
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