The Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) recently undertook a significant move towards hotel ranking and classification, aiming to showcase the country's standing in terms of hotel quality.
According to the released document, Uganda has only three five-star hotels: Kampala Serena Hotel, Lake Victoria Serena Golf Resort & Spa, and Sheraton Kampala, all concentrated in Kampala.
Additionally, there are about nine four-star hotels, among other rankings.
This notably means that cities like Jinja, despite being tourism destinations, lack five-star accommodations.
Tourism and hospitality expert Cuthbert Balinda suggests that UTB's classification effort aligns with its mandate.
He emphasizes that hotel classification involves various factors such as the evaluation of safety measures, drainage, washrooms, and water supply adequacy.
Balinda raises concerns that many hotels might not have met 100 percent of these prerequisites despite being classified.
The President of the Uganda Tourism Association, Herbert Byaruhanga, acknowledges the importance of classification in ensuring quality service delivery and customer satisfaction.
However, he faults the government for lack of comprehensive involvement of various stakeholders in the process, noting that the East African standard classification favors other countries, putting Uganda at a disadvantage.
Byaruhanga warns that the classification could negatively impact tourism numbers and competitiveness.
Balinda on the other hand underscores that classification serves as a destination marketing tool and calls for a broader exercise to provide a comprehensive overview of the country's facilities.
Byaruhanga further expresses concern about the classification's potential negative impact and urges UTB to guide hotel owners in improving their ratings to meet market standards, the needed patriotism for the sector.
He further calls for the amendment of the Tourism Act to align with current measures such as classification.
Looking ahead, Balinda suggests strategic interventions focused on improving quality and stock to drive effective marketing efforts and continuous engagement with various stakeholders for synchronized and impactful execution and implementation.
Conclusively on the "Big Talk" show on Next Radio Uganda, Byaruhanga says that tourism is government-led and private sector-driven; it is prudent for the private sector to be empowered for their mandate.