Uganda woos tourists from the Middle East

In order to boost its tourism income, Uganda is making efforts to promote its tourism industry internationally. As part of this plan, the country hosted a special stand at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai to showcase its tourism products in the Middle East markets. “Arabian Travel Market is an important event for us and helps us reach new markets in the Middle east region,” said Edwin Muzahura, Marketing Manager of Uganda Tourism Board. “We are hoping that travellers from the Middle East will travel to Uganda in increasing numbers to take advantage of the excellent tourism infrastructure that Uganda has developed over the years – including some world-class hotels and resorts. Excellent air connectivity between the GCC countries and Uganda also augurs well for increased bi-lateral tourism and travel ties between Uganda and the Middle East,” he said.

ATM is the leading global event for the Middle East inbound and outbound travel industry and has played an important role in promoting new destinations amongst the high-spending tourists from the Middle East.

Following the success of the 2016 exhibition, where more than 40,000 industry professionals, including 30,000 trade visitors, agreed deals worth USD 2.5 billion, it is expected ATM 2017 will welcome over 2,600 confirmed exhibitors – with 100 exhibiting for the first time – across 65 national pavilions. The show will also extend across an additional hall, in order to meet growing demand.

“The United Arab Emirates presents Uganda with huge opportunity to tap tourist arrivals by virtue of its geographical proximity and excellent air connections”, said Irene Florence Persis Wekiya, Ambassador of Uganda to the United Arab Emirates. “Uganda is less than five hours flight time from Dubai to Entebbe. There are as many as nine airlines that provide easy connectivity and frequency to Entebbe from UAE, including flydubai, Emirates Airlines (from Dubai), Air Arabia (from Sharjah), and Etihad Airways (from Abu Dhabi). Uganda has an Embassy in the UAE in Abu Dhabi making visa processing much more convenient. Most expatriates are able to process their visa on arrival”, said Irene Wekiya.

Halal Certified

Easy availability of halal food has also attracted Muslim travellers from the Middle East in recent years. The Uganda Halal Bureau has listed nine manufacturers whose products qualify for Halal certification. According to recent studies, by 2020, more than 160 million Muslim tourists are expected to travel globally, spending upward of US$200 million.

Uganda is aiming to garner of sizeable share of this market by setting standards for hotels and other touristic facilities to be certified as ‘Halal and Muslim’ friendly destinations.

Uganda-Dubai Travel Ties

“We must allow these factors to play into our advantage and attract more tourists from Dubai to Uganda,” said Irene Florence Persis Wekiya. “Uganda’s participation at the Arabian Travel Market also aims at increasing business-to-business contacts among travel professionals as well as exchange ideas and share best practice with travel trade,” she said.

UAE is one of the the principal market for Uganda in the greater GCC market that consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

Commenting at the launch of the Entebbe route in 2014, flydubai CCO Hamad Obaidalla had said: “We are delighted to be flying to Entebbe, one of Africa’s leading commercial centres. With daily flights offering the choice of Economy and Business Class, we will facilitate the flow of tourism and business between Uganda and the UAE.”

Last year Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing’s (Dubai Tourism) organised the first-ever East Africa road show that also went to Kampala to promote bi-lateral travel and tourism ties between Uganda and the United Arab Emirates.

In 2016, the UAE was the fifth largest source market for Uganda globally.