Post Covid plan on bouncing back Uganda tourism strongly

Tourism is one of Uganda’s major foreign exchange earners. Pre-covid-19 pandemic; the sector contributed a whopping 2.4 billion USD to Uganda’s economy.

The sector also accounted for close to 8% of Uganda’s GDP. Before the pandemic pushed many people to find survival alternatives outside the tourism sector; there were close to 700,000 Ugandans directly employed in Uganda’s tourism sector.

The pandemic was unforeseen. It pushed everyone to use every possible tool in his or her tool-box but with limited success. However, the story was different when it came to wildlife. According the BBC documentary, “The year earth changed”, wildlife around the world flourished more during the pandemic. A baby boom was recorded in Uganda’s mountain gorillas, the skies got clear again in countries like India. With all the pain that came with the pandemic, it was soothing to watch a new world where wildlife flourished.

In Uganda; the agency in charge of wildlife protection as well as management of Uganda’s national parks, the Uganda wildlife Authority (UWA) entered its emergency mode. It first closed off all the primate national parks and as things got more heated up; they proceeded to close the savannah national parks too. In a country where most of the tourism rotates around national parks; the closure was a punch in the gut of the tourism sector.

For the first time in many years, the auditor general’s report presented Uganda wildlife Authority was one of the government agencies that made huge loses. In the tourism sector, it is only Uganda Wildlife Education Center (UWEC) that quickly got back to its feet financially. Unlike many companies that laid off staff, Uganda wildlife Authority (UWA) did otherwise regardless of the pandemic financial struggles.

The Director of Tourism and Business Development at UWA Stephen Sanyi Masaba said that they went into survival mode and adopted contingency budget which saw them prioritize wildlife protection and staff retention thus the management made the decision not to lay off - or even reduce the salaries - of any of its 2,300 staff. With all the national parks in Uganda open again, night life revived; it seems Uganda is ready to get back to its steady growth in the tourism industry.

According to Masaba; the pandemic was a wakeup call which made them think, what would happen if the mountain gorillas and chimpanzees were wiped away? Luckily, they had already put measures in place to ensure the lives of the primates were preserved. However besides their earlier endeavors, UWA has also adopted the new international gorilla trekking protocol to ensure safety for the gentle giants.

While the above questions were coming up, the Uganda tourism board (UTB) was thinking of ways to better prepare for anything similar to the Covid-19 pandemic in future. Based on the data they had at their disposal of what tourists had found most interesting in Uganda; they moved on to create a new tourism brand for Uganda. The “Explore Uganda” brand. According to Ajarova the C.E.O Uganda tourism board, a brand is built over time. Thus they will need time to build the explore Uganda brand.

The Explore Uganda brand came after a number of failed attempts on furthering Uganda tourism brands including but not limited to “gifted by nature”, “Visit Uganda” among several other brand related taglines. While the world was watching the pandemic sunset, the Uganda Tourism Board thought it better to build a brand that does not only focus on gorillas and national parks rather an all-inclusive experience of destination Uganda. They thought of inviting the world as well as Ugandans into experiencing things that are uniquely Ugandan.

Up to date, gorilla safaris obviously remain Uganda’s leading tourism icon but as per the new brand. UTB is still working towards presenting the uniqueness of gorilla trekking in Uganda; an experience that can be promoted as uniquely Ugandan! How much you can still go gorilla trekking in the Volcanoes of Rwanda and the Virunga National Park of DR Congo, the explore Uganda brand seeks to further the distinction Uganda has to offer in this experience.

According to  Yoweri Kaguta Museveni; the president of the republic of Uganda, he was intrigued by the new brand, “Explore Uganda”. The team from Uganda Tourism Board opened his mind to realize that it is one thing to simply visit or see something; it is another to explore it to the bits. The visiting narrative gives you a list of places to visit while the explore narrative forces you to focus all your time on one particular thing or destination to get the best out of it to the degree that those who simply visit never get to appreciate.

The “Explore Uganda” brand is Uganda’s plan not only for bouncing back from the covid-19 pandemic but also an endeavor to put the Pearl of Africa in its rightful place in East African and later on the African continent. At the moment, the plan seems not to be well articulated but the vision is at least clear. Most of the tourism products have not changed much to capture the explore Uganda experience but at least with a clear vision, its likely to be adopted very soon.

In 2019, the association of Uganda Tour Operators (AUTO) identified Uganda’s main tourism challenge as the ignored diversity. It is this Bio diversity that explore Uganda brand believes will not only revamp tourism in Uganda but also create experiences that are uniquely Ugandan.