By Paul Tentena
UGANDA Tourism Board (UTB) has set a target of a million tourists by 2012, according to a top official.
William Byaruhanga, the board chairman, explained last week that this would be achieved by expanding the scope of products provided, and entice tourists to stay longer with attractive packages.
“We shall maximally tap our potential in the sector in terms of investment and arrivals,” Byaruhanga stated.
Byaruhanga said Uganda received 642,000 tourists last year but noted the need to improve the country’s presence and marketing initiatives across the globe.
“We intend to expand our activities within Europe and also target new markets like the US and Asia this year. The Ugandan stand design shall be consistently improved to be competitive at different exhibitions as we benchmark best practices internationally,” he stressed.
On the country’s staggering image abroad, Byaruhanga observed: “Branding and positioning takes a while regardless of our past history and it requires consistency and sufficient funding.
“International marketing requires huge sums of money to change our past image in the source markets and we shall get there with good marketing strategies.
“Every country has its history that is what distinguishes us as people. Germany gets millions of visitors annually regardless of Hitler’s activities in the past.”
Commenting on the issue of the “Gifted by Nature” brand and the “Pearl of Africa” tagline preferred by the private sector, Byaruhanga said “A brand is a perception or mindset. Therefore, the two brands can be pushed and used to compliment each other instead of cannibalising each other.
“Both brands have not been fully tested to come out with clear conclusions about usage mileage.
“However ‘Gifted by Nature’ stretches beyond tourism to other sectors like trade. A branding strategy has been finalised and is set to be rolled out, finances being a factor.
“Consultations have been ongoing to solve the differences of the two brands.”
Byaruhanga said Uganda will host four regional domestic tourism exhibitions in Uganda given the credit crunch in Europe, which is the major market.
“We shall also design family, corporate and individual packages that are affordable and attractive to our people.
“It should be noted that tourism is the fastest growing sector world wide at 8% and indeed in Uganda as well. Tourism has a perfect trickle down effect and can be key in fighting poverty hence the need to prioritise it.”
UGANDA Tourism Board (UTB) has set a target of a million tourists by 2012, according to a top official.
William Byaruhanga, the board chairman, explained last week that this would be achieved by expanding the scope of products provided, and entice tourists to stay longer with attractive packages.
“We shall maximally tap our potential in the sector in terms of investment and arrivals,” Byaruhanga stated.
Byaruhanga said Uganda received 642,000 tourists last year but noted the need to improve the country’s presence and marketing initiatives across the globe.
“We intend to expand our activities within Europe and also target new markets like the US and Asia this year. The Ugandan stand design shall be consistently improved to be competitive at different exhibitions as we benchmark best practices internationally,” he stressed.
On the country’s staggering image abroad, Byaruhanga observed: “Branding and positioning takes a while regardless of our past history and it requires consistency and sufficient funding.
“International marketing requires huge sums of money to change our past image in the source markets and we shall get there with good marketing strategies.
“Every country has its history that is what distinguishes us as people. Germany gets millions of visitors annually regardless of Hitler’s activities in the past.”
Commenting on the issue of the “Gifted by Nature” brand and the “Pearl of Africa” tagline preferred by the private sector, Byaruhanga said “A brand is a perception or mindset. Therefore, the two brands can be pushed and used to compliment each other instead of cannibalising each other.
“Both brands have not been fully tested to come out with clear conclusions about usage mileage.
“However ‘Gifted by Nature’ stretches beyond tourism to other sectors like trade. A branding strategy has been finalised and is set to be rolled out, finances being a factor.
“Consultations have been ongoing to solve the differences of the two brands.”
Byaruhanga said Uganda will host four regional domestic tourism exhibitions in Uganda given the credit crunch in Europe, which is the major market.
“We shall also design family, corporate and individual packages that are affordable and attractive to our people.
“It should be noted that tourism is the fastest growing sector world wide at 8% and indeed in Uganda as well. Tourism has a perfect trickle down effect and can be key in fighting poverty hence the need to prioritise it.”
