Description
The current Ugandan National Development Plan (NDPIII) aspires to make Uganda one of the top five tourism destinations in Africa by 2025, given the sector’s important role for economic growth and employment generation. Until the COVID crisis started, the sector had grown exponentially, with visitors arriving to the country increasing from 200,000 in 2000, to over 1.5 million in 2018. With the COVID pandemic, the arrivals droppend to 156,000 in 2020, and the hospitality sector suffered great losses from 2019 to 2021. Before that, the sector contributed to 7.7% of GDP and earned USD 1.6 billion annually, twice as much as the forex income earning from the largest export, coffee (UNDP, 2020). According to Ministry of Tourism, the tourism and hospitality sector accounts for around 667,600 staff, with 90% employed in the hospitality sector; the sector contributes to about 6.7 % of the total national employment. The spill-over effects on auxiliary services includes banking, manufacturing, telecommunication, utilities, trade, etc. The influx of tourists is also the main financier of the Uganda Wildlife Authority, in their efforts to preserve the natural treasures of Uganda, including the endangered Mountain Gorillas.
In such context the EU has launched a number of inititatives to keep this important sector afloat and reinvigorate it with strong support to greening inititatives that will make tourism more eviromentally friendly and more responsive to the needs of the communities around touristc sites.
In this group, we will share updated information on the tourism and conservancy sector in Uganda relevant to public, private or 3rd sector (NGOs) parties interested in working or researching in Tourism in Uganda. Our hope is that with this exchange of information, all interested stakeholders will develop closer synergies and optimize the collective impact of the Tourism Community of Practice in Uganda.