Creation of Idi Amin trail to promote tourism in Uganda

Uganda is blessed with a diverse collection of tourism fraternity that has led to an increase in the number of safaris packages each year. These attractions are so unique and this is why the country is considered to be the leading tourism destination in Africa .One of the key attractions in this “pearl of Africa” are the rare mountain gorillas found in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga National Park. About 65% of the total visitors specifically come to this country with an aim of trekking these hard-to find primates.

Some visitors come to do other adventurous acactivities like bird watching, chimpanzee tracking, cultural tours, game viewing, hiking, nature walks, boat trips, historical city tours and many more. This has put the country on the world scene because many people jet into the country to experience the adventure that comes with the trip.

However, there is still under exploitation of the potential attractions which the country can use as a competitive edge over its neighbors. These unique cultural attributes can be classified into tourism clusters and can help to market the country worldwide.

Recently, the chief executive of Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), Stephen Asiimwe announced a proposal of turning the ill-mentioned legacy of Idi Amin, a former president of this ‘pearl of Africa” into an attractive and profitable tourism trail. This trail is expected to be so magnificent and attractive to match other global tragedies which were turned into tourism like Rwanda Genocide or Germany’s holocaust museum.

He said that Ugandans should use the advantage of Idi Amin being the most popular person in the country to promote tourism. The best way to do this according to him is by setting up a trail which will attract many people from different parts of the world. These people will come mainly to have a more clear view of what happened during Idi Amin’s regime and how he ruled the Country. To incorporate culture in this plan, he said that a museum containing the early guns used by the soldiers, clothes and other things shall be put in place.

This proposal has emerged when Uganda tourism sector’s funding was increased by the government to about US$2m (USH5bn) and this will help to make the project a success. The industry shall be marketed to the outside world and more safaris packages to Uganda shall be recorded. This will lead to an increase in revenues collected by the government specifically from the tourism sector.

Basing on the current statistics, Uganda receives more tourists annually than any other African country. Many people find it worthy to make a Uganda Safari tour because at low prices, one is able to enjoy a wide variety of tourism activities. The peace in this East African country has also contributed in the promotion of tourism since visitors are more safer.