CSOs, MPs diasgree on funding tourism sector
According to Uganda Tourism Trends and Outlook Report 2024, released by the Ministry of Tourism Wildlife and Antiquities [MTWA], the sector has maintained resilience in the post COVID-19 period
KAMPALA, January 15, 2025 –– Legislators on the Committee of Trade and Tourism have disagreed with a recommendation by Civil Society Organisations [CSOs] to increase the Tourism Development Programme budget to at least Shs1 trillion per year for the next five years.
Members of Parliament [MPs], James Olobo [Kioga North County], and Apio Eunice [ Oyam County North] instead urged the CSOs to intensify advocacy against corruption in the tourism sector, claiming government officials in the sector misuse the funds.
The representatives from Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute [SEATINI] and Jenga Africa appeared before the committee on Monday to respond to the 2025/2026 National Budget Framework Paper.
“If Shs1 trillion is allocated to the tourism programme, will there be value for money? Have you done research on previous expenditures? If for example we need Shs 700 billion for tourism, why would we go for Shs1 trillion?” Apio Eunice asked.
On his part, Olobo said that the proposed allocation of Shs175 billion in the 2025/2026 financial year towards the tourism programme is sufficient.
“The money we collect is enough; what you need to do, is research more on corruption,” said Olobo.
Jeff Wadulo, Jenga Africa’s team leader in his justification for increasing the tourism budget, said that tourism has a high return on investment.
“According to the World Bank, every US$1 spent by a foreign tourist generates an average of 2.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product, both directly and indirectly along the value chain,” he said.
He added that boosting the tourism budget will generate the necessary increase to the government’s target of US$ 50bln for the programme by 2040 and also contribute to the 10-fold strategy of pushing Uganda’s Gross Domestic Product to US$ 500 by 2040.
“This money can be reallocated from various budget lines for workshops and seminars, national holidays and donations,” Wadulo said.
He also called for enhancement of the tourism marketing budget from Shs100 million to Shs500 million, annually.
“Despite Uganda being the Pearl of Africa and gifted by nature with a variety of tourist attractions, little is known of Uganda to larger parts of the world. Uganda’s tourism sector post-pandemic recovery is lagging behind that of our regional peers and competitors like Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda,” he said.
Sheema County South MP, Elijah Mushemeza welcomed the proposal to increase efforts to market Uganda’s tourism.
“I want to welcome your paper but you are preaching to the converted. Our challenge now is to convince the Executive. So, we may have a task to convince the Executive that the sector that has high investment returns is tourism and also coffee,” he said.
According to Uganda Tourism Trends and Outlook Report 2024, released by the Ministry of Tourism Wildlife and Antiquities [MTWA], the sector has maintained resilience in the post COVID-19 period. Preliminary data from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics [UBOS] and MTWA reveal that international visitor arrivals have steadily recovered from 31 percent in 2020 to 82 percent in 2023 [based on 2019 pre-COVID-19 level].
According to provisional estimates, by the close of 2023, the international visitor arrivals were 1,262,734, representing a 55 percent growth rate from 814,504 arrivals in 2022.
Tourism experts in the country say there is a need for the countries’ tourism policy and planning to focus more on: prioritising tourism product development with keen focus on product diversification; adopting sustainability and green tourism practices especially in face of increasing climate change
and resultant negative impacts; prioritising and investing more in research and development to guide, inform and drive evidence-based planning and growth; ensuring balanced tourism development across the regions of Uganda; and focusing on developing domestic tourism,
among other factors
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