Uganda to be Marketed at the ITB Berlin

Most tourists visiting Uganda know her for gorilla trekking safari but Uganda, the Pearl of Africa is a beauty to behold with millions of riveting attractions that will take your breath away. It is always important to convince tourists that Uganda has a medley of attractions to offer in addition to the mountain gorillas that everyone knows her for. The country has a lot to offer but few tourists understand the beauty it offers. In efforts to grow the visitor numbers and increase revenue, the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife, and Antiquities through Uganda Tourism Board is set to showcase at the ITB Berlin Tourism Trade Fair.

It is because of this marketing purpose that Uganda is set to participate in the long-awaited tourism and travel expo, the ITB Berlin Germany to exhibit the wonderful tourism products that Uganda offers. The 30-member delegation is made up of 30 Uganda tour operators and led by Hon Godfrey Kiwanda, the State Minister for Tourism and several officials from Uganda Tourism Board including Lilly Ajarova (CEO UTB),  UTB Marketing Officer for the European market as well as UTB marketing manager and Sam Mwandha (CEO Uganda Wildlife Authority among others. However, Prof Ephraim Kamuntu (Minister for Tourism) will join the team on the final day since he still has a meeting on tourism product development in Hungary.

ITB Berlin Tourism and Travel Expo is the World’s largest tourism Trade Fair and one of the four main International Tourism gatherings and is very important to Uganda’s tourism sector drawing more than 109,000 trade visitors as well as potential travelers seeking lucrative business opportunities as well as inspiration for their upcoming trips. This number is surprisingly expected to rise during this year’s edition.

The four days’ tourism expo (6^th to 9^th March) is slated to take place at Messe in Berlin and is undeniable of indispensable significance to the country, the fact that Germany is one of Uganda’s top source markets. The expo will also allow tour operators to make more safari bookings in addition to the connection to new and existing markets. According to Lilly Ajarova, the exhibitor satisfaction at ITB over the years has stood over 90%, thus a sign of effective delivery on business. Uganda’s stall at the tourism expo will yet again be a star attraction given its magnificent showing at the two preceding editions (2017 and 2018) hence the reason it was voted the 5^th best exhibitor out of more than 800 exhibitors in the African category for two consecutive years. With the vigorous preparations undertaken by the tour operators and marketing done by UTB, Ms. Ajarova is optimistic that the country will perform better this year.

This tourism expo is also a platform for Organizations and tourism companies to meet in addition to bringing together experts, top decision-makers and young professionals from every tourism-related areas such as tour operators, hotels, travel agencies, tourism organizations, transport companies, system providers and booking portals. Also expected to attend ITB Berlin Tourism Trade Fair is a team of over 15 hotel proprietors from UHOA (Uganda Hotel Owners Association) as well as 10 independent trade visitors.

The tourism sector is presently one of the leading foreign exchange earners in Uganda contributing at least 10% to GDP with an excess of over $1.45 billion in 2018 (approximately 23.5% of the total exports annually).

In conclusion, it is one thing to be beautiful and has attractions but it’s another thing to convince people about what you have. It’s for this reason that Uganda (through a team of 30 delegated) will be represented at the 2019 edition of ITB Berlin Tourism Trade Fair.