It is not, and never has it been our wish to disconnect ourselves from anything related to tourism organized by any government agency in this country but due to many reasons, the private sector of tourism and hospitality (array of associations) has taken a decision to turn down this invitation.
Amongst the many reasons for the boycott is the lack of engagement by the government (tourism) in decision making and planning for this very event and many other initiatives which make the private sector of tourism and hospitality feel sidelined. Being the drivers of the business, we feel excluded from this entire process. It should be noted that tour operators and other actors spend millions of dollars traversing continents looking for tourists/clients. This contributes so much to the country’s revenue for example 2018/19, Uganda registered 1.4 Billion dollars from tourism. This is far above what the government injects in marketing the tourism sector. It is a shame that government can plan to re-discover the magnificence of country when the real actors are not fully consulted for their input to ensure maximum benefits from the drive.
Secondly, the private sector of tourism and hospitality employs more than 600,000 people especially the youth. However, throughout the Covid-19 period; the government of Uganda has deliberately ignored the tourism business without any stimulus package like other countries have done to help the tourism business recover. This has seen many of our SMEs close without any help or support hand from government. Many assets & properties have been lost to commercial banks.
Thirdly, the government (tourism) has on several occasions conducted activities or procurements that seem to compete and undermine private sector or discouraged activities of private sector players. The hundreds of consultancy outputs/ deliverables worth billions of shillings remain in the shelves of government offices yet they would support the private sector in product development as well as marketing.
In addition, despite tourism being a fundamental sector in Uganda, the government deliberately ignored tourism in the recent high level workshop “5th Economic Growth Forum” that was held at Kampala Serena Hotel on the 13th January 2022.
On several occasions, the sector players have communicated to the Minister of Tourism, Chairman of the Board of Uganda Tourism Board, with no response.
Therefore it does not make sense to us, the private sector of tourism and hospitality to blindly engage in activities of government to flag off initiatives where we are left out of the initial planning process.
Moreover, UTB deems it right to extend invitations to private sector players to attend and listen to their undertakings and approve without any contributions which is clear rubberstamping the private sector players. To our end, this is irresponsible and utter disregard of the private sector. This is unacceptable and we will not embrace or use the brand.
Herbert Byaruhanga,
President,
Uganda Tourism Association (UTA)
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