KAMPALA: The Uganda Tourism Association (UTA), an umbrella body that brings together all tourism associations in the country, has boycotted an organised by the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), the government tourism body, citing marginalisation.
The event under the theme “Rediscover the magnificence of our pearl” is scheduled for Friday, 21st January 2022, with President Museveni expected to be the chief guest.
But the president of UTA, Mr Herbert Byaruhanga, in a statement issued on Wednesday, 19th January, said they are not attending the event because they were not consulted while organising it yet they are the key drivers of the tourism business in Uganda.
“Amongst the many reasons for the boycott is the lack of engagement by the government (tourism) in decision making and planning for this very event and many other initiatives which make the private sector of tourism and hospitality feel sidelined. Being the drivers of the business, we feel excluded from this entire process,” he said.
“It should be noted that tour operators and other actors spend millions of dollars traversing continents looking for tourists/clients. This contributes so much to the country’s revenue for example 2018/19, Uganda registered 1.4 Billion dollars from tourism. This is far above what the government injects in marketing the tourism sector. It is a shame that government can plan to re-discover the magnificence of country when the real actors are not fully consulted for their input to ensure maximum benefits from the drive,” he added.
He added while the private sector of tourism and hospitality employs more than 600,000 people especially the youth, throughout the Covid-19 period, the government of Uganda has ignored their request for any stimulus package like other countries have done to help the tourism business recover.
“This has seen many of our SMEs close without any help or support hand from government. Many assets and properties have been lost to commercial banks,” Mr Byaruhanga explained.
Mr Byaruhanga also said UTB has on several occasions conducted activities or procurements that seem to compete and undermine private sector or discouraged activities of private sector players.
“The hundreds of consultancy outputs/ deliverables worth billions of shillings remain in the shelves of government offices yet they would support the private sector in product development as well as marketing,” he said.
“Therefore it does not make sense to us, the private sector of tourism and hospitality to blindly engage in activities of government to flag off initiatives where we are left out of the initial planning process,” he added.
The Uganda Tourism Association is comprised of the Association of Uganda Tour Operators, Uganda Safari Guides Association, Uganda hotel owners Association, The Uganda Association of travel agents , and Uganda community Tourism Association.