How should the government participate in the development of Uganda’s tourism sector to harness its full potential, apart from providing infrastructure?

Policy brief 7 Aug 2020 State

Authors

Global Travel & Tourism (T&T) industry is growing at a rapid pace and has accounted for fifth of all new jobs created in the world over the past 5 years.
Compared to past decades, Uganda has recently shown progress in terms of tourism growth and development. Realising the potential of the tourism sector to contribute to national socioeconomic development, the Government of Uganda has identified T&T as a priority sector in the forthcoming National Development Plan III and the Vision 2040.
This brief provides key recommendation on how the Government of Uganda can further develop the tourism sector apart from providing infrastructure. This work is a result of the IGC-Ugandan Ministry of Finance 3rd Economic Growth Forum that took place in Kampala Uganda in August 2019.
Due to the lack of marketing promotion, a large impediment for tourism growth is the current low level of consumer awareness especially among key target markets like Europe, Australia and China. The authors find that 60% of foreign visitors have heard of the country’s attractions through word-of-mouth only.
Other key recommendations include investments in human capital formation and training, regulation and hotel grading, air access and openness, and monitoring and evaluation.