The tourism industry in Uganda could gain from Eco-tourism, a type of tourism which is cheap and easy to execute because the flora, fauna and cultural heritage.

Tourism is changing rapidly, as nature, heritage and recreational destinations become more important and more developed. This enhances Eco-tourism as the fastest growing market in the tourism industry according to the World Tourism Organization 2005 report.

Uganda hosted 500,000 visitors last year that brought about $400 million in service export earnings due to its several primary attractions, like climate and green landscape as well as its rich culture, bird and animal life. These need development and growth, thus presenting a challenge to the government and private enterprise to develop the latest approaches to the tourism market.

Tourism should benefit the local communities, enhance economic and cultural growth, to give incentives to protect the natural resources which create the attraction.
This will also give an opportunity to the sector to respond to the challenges of poverty eradication, dependency on foreign investment, as well as social and ecological factors.

Uganda faces competition from countries like Egypt, which earns $2 billion in tourism. Therefore Standards of hotels plus other accommodations need to be rated, certification is required, guidelines need to be put in place, building capacity of the various stakeholders, and a policy on Eco-tourism be designed before Uganda aspires for more numbers.

Uganda tourism news