UTB seeks to use expo to sell Uganda’s tourism potential disrupted by Covid
The Uganda Tourism Board has said the Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo (POATE) will come in handy to help sell Uganda’s tourism potential to bigger markets around the world.
Speaking in an interview, the UTB Marketing Manager, Claire Mugabi said they will specifically target existing and emerging markets for Uganda’s tourism.
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“Hosted buyers and exhibitors will be sourced from the existing core and emerging source markets within the East African Region (Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda), rest of Africa (Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa) and the international markets (North America, UK and Ireland, Germany speaking countries, Japan, Gulf states and China and the new markets of France, Belgium + Netherlands,”Mugabi said.
She noted that the expo will help increase awareness about Uganda as a tourist destination.
“It will enable trade visitors and exhibitors to showcase and obtain the latest information on available tourism products from Uganda and the rest of the world but also enable suppliers of tourism products test the acceptance of these products in the post-covid-19 Ugandan market.”
According to the UTB Marketing Manager, the expo will enable distributors of tourism products interact with suppliers and distributors in the value chain to establish relationships to enable business sustainability.
UTB also expects an estimated shs12.2 billion return on investment from this year’s Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo.
“With the effects of the pandemic to the tourism sector, the expo will help revive the industry back to its glory days. This will create opportunities for growth of country and the economy in general. It is one avenue of selling Uganda to Ugandans and those abroad.”
According to UTB, the expo will help lure visitors from key markets like the US, Europe and China from to grow the numbers from 210,000 to 500,000 by the year 2025.
This year’s Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo will run from between April 27 and 29, 2021 under the theme: “Restarting Tourism for Regional Economic Development”
This year’s expo will be held virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic but according to UTB, it will be a great opportunity for directory listings and one on one meetings among attributes.
