East African Business Week

KAMPALA, UGANDA- About 880,000 tourists visited Uganda last year according to the Uganda Tourism Board.
This showed an increment of 360,000 tourists over those recorded in 2009. Uganda in 2009 received around 844,000 tourists.
Mr. Cuthbert Baguma, the executive director of the Uganda Tourism Board, Uganda's tourism marketing agency explained that the country can receive more tourists with more coordinated and improved marketing strategies. The board targets a million tourists this year.
Kenya recently announced  they recorded 1 million tourists last year, following a quick recovery from the post election violence that hit the country. The violence scared away tourists, opting for other destinations.
Baguma, who last week addressed journalists about the "Tourism Media Awards" slated for  September 26, 2011 in Kampala added that the board is designing a tourism marketing strategy that will capture domestic tourism, regional and international tourists.
The "Uganda Tourism Media Awards" is a yearly event organized by the Ministry of Tourism, Uganda Tourism Board and the Uganda Wildlife Authority. It is sponsored by the USAID STAR programme. The awards aim at encouraging Ugandan journalists to report about tourism.
Amb. Julius Onen the permanent secretary in the Tourism Ministry said tourism is one of the three leading service sectors in Uganda in terms of foreign exchange earnings.
It employs 380,000 people, with domestic tourism contributing much to economic growth.
Onen explained that the ministry is working out a tourism master plan to be launched before the end of the year.
"Best performing tourism destinations in the world have a strong collaboration with the media. We ask you to work with us in promoting this sector," said Onen.
Onen noted that regional and international tourism is picking up. "For tourism to succeed, it has to be owned by the people. We are designing a Kampala package where tourists will go and visit people in busy areas like Kikuubo. There are many foreign tourists who want that and even to  live in communities," he stressed.
Ms Lillian Nsubuga, the Communications Manager of the Uganda Wildlife Authority indicated that the overall winners in the print, radio, television and photo journalism will earnsShs2m and trips to Dubai.