Uganda will reopen the Murchison National Park following a marked improvement in tourist numbers. For the past 20 years with insurgencies, the park’s main gates have been closed.
So the Uganda Wildlife Authority Says it will re-open it on World Tourism Day which will be the 7th day Of October.
According to hotel occupancy reports submitted to the authority, month-on- month tourist figures in northern Uganda have more than doubled and UWA anticipates that it was because of the confirmed stability of the northern part of Uganda.
But tour operators and major hotels in the park have disputed the figures, claiming they are exaggerated because hotels are operating below capacity.
Hotel owners said the figures must have come from low cost hotels preferred by budget tourists.
Officials of the Nile Safari Camp and Sambiya River Lodge which are situated in Murchison falls national park said they sometimes received between one and five visitors a week. Murchison National Park has four major hotels with 150 rooms. Paraa Safari Lodge has 53 rooms a three star lodge, others are Sambiya River Lodge, Red chillis camp, Nile Safari Camp and Top of the fall.
According to the authority, current figures show that these hotels have registered up to 70 per cent occupancy over the past three months, which is an improvement on the pre-June figures that swung between 20-25 per cent.
Some hotels, according to the authority are said to have recorded 100 per cent occupancy.
However, Mani Khan, the director of tourism for the Madhvani Group said Paraa Safari Lodge reported only 10-15 per cent occupancy over the same period.
He added that their mean occupancy figures are between 30-35%. He commented that there are still few tourists coming from America and Britain because the travel advisories have not lifted their bans. He said that the change for the better is only “an encouraging sign” for now but cannot be concrete until Western countries lift the security alerts or a peace agreement is signed.
The fact that Murchison National Park is in Gulu district, a Lord’s Resistance Army zone is an obstacle to the tourism and hotel industry in the region.
However there has been a respite in rebel activity since June, as peace negotiations between the government and LRA go on in Juba.
As a result, tour operators from Kampala are taking tourists to the north, which goes against the travel advisories.
Namisi . T. Hadijah the tours manager Abacus African vacations says her company books almost all clients from ,Europe, America and Canada for tours to Murchison falls national park, and Kidepo valley national park despite the advisories and they all come back in steadily which is an assurance that there is now stability in the northern part of the Uganda. She advised that there is need for a peace pact to be signed which will act as an assurance to the rest of the aspirant tourist.
Authority officials also said that besides the restoration of security, the putting asphalt along the Karuma-Pakwach road has augmented traffic to the park, both through the south and northern gates.
To get to the hotels, some tour operators preferred the south gate because of insecurity around Karuma. But that section is now secure and tourist numbers have grown, said Damian Akankwasa, the director of tourism, business development and planning at the authority.
If this peace goes on, then Uganda tourism will be one of the leading income earners of the country.
Wrtitten by Tanah Hadijah