The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Doreen Katusiime, said Uganda has traditionally leaned heavily on wildlife and cultural heritage as its core tourism products, with national parks and game viewing experiences forming the backbone of the sector.
She noted that while this approach has been successful in attracting international visitors, it has also limited the range of activities available to tourists beyond wildlife viewing and short cultural encounters.
“The government of Uganda has been mainly promoting cultural and natural heritage as our tourism product, so that's why wildlife has been at the centre. But in the next few years coming and in the tenfold growth strategy, we want to focus on increasing the stay of the tourist and increasing the spend. So we are not just looking at the numbers,” Katusiime said.
She explained that many visitors to Uganda’s key tourism sites, such as national parks, often spend only a short time engaging in game drives and then move on, leaving limited room for additional tourism revenue generation.
“So how do we increase the spend? How much a tourist spends and how long a tourist stays? So if a tourist comes to Queen Elizabeth and sleeps in one of the lodges and does a game drive the next day, what else can keep him or her an extra day?” she asked.
According to Katusiime, expanding tourism experiences beyond wildlife viewing is now a key priority, with coffee tourism identified as one of the practical avenues for achieving that goal.
She said coffee tourism offers visitors a chance to follow Uganda’s coffee journey from farm to cup, including walking through coffee plantations, observing harvesting and processing methods, participating in roasting and tasting experiences, and engaging directly with farming communities.
“In most cases, they come and do a game drive and the next day they don't have much to do. They pay some cultural dance and where with a lot of lodges. So coffee is going to be a game changer in this,” she said.
Coffee tourism, while still relatively new as a structured tourism product in Uganda, draws on a long-standing tradition of coffee cultivation in the country.
Uganda is one of Africa’s leading coffee producers, with both Robusta and Arabica varieties grown across several regions, including the Lake Victoria basin, the Rwenzori foothills, and the Mount Elgon highlands.
Globally, coffee tourism has been successfully developed in countries such as Ethiopia and Colombia, where farm visits, coffee festivals, and cupping experiences have become key attractions that connect agriculture with travel and culture.
Uganda has already begun exploring similar experiences in selected coffee-growing areas, particularly in the eastern highlands, where farm tours around Sipi Falls in Kapchorwa allow visitors to engage with coffee farmers and experience production processes in a scenic mountain environment.
The ministry says strengthening such experiences will not only enrich Uganda’s tourism product portfolio but also create additional income opportunities for rural communities involved in coffee production.
The initiative is expected to complement existing wildlife and cultural tourism offerings, particularly in coffee-producing regions, as Uganda continues to position itself as a multi-experience destination rather than a single-attraction safari economy.