LAUNCH OF JOINT REGIONAL PROMOTIONAL INITIATIVES
(Posted 18th February 2017)
The East Africa Tourism Platform, the private sector apex body for the five East African Community member states, yesterday launched their much awaited ‘Destination East Africa Portal‘. The new website aims to propagate new easier travel procedures across parts of the region, namely Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya, where citizens can now travel by using national ID cards while duly registered expatriates can travel Visa free among the three by using an ‘Interstate Pass‘.
The site will also be a promotional tool, and advertising will be possible, to showcase the region’s many attractions from beaches to parks, from historical monuments to rivers and lakes and from cultural events to culinary festivals.
The portal, now accessible via www.visiteastafrica.org provides tourism information and is targeting 2.000 regional tour operators and service providers and in the immediate future 10.000 users, with an aim of promoting multi-country packages. It gives a unique opportunity to regional stakeholders to directly market to domestic, regional and international visitors, while at the same time promoting the vision of Destination East Africa.
The advertisements, commercials and a documentary are 45-seconds and 4-minute programmes respectively; aimed at raising awareness, on single tourist visa and use of interstate passes and IDS, among East Africans.
The launch was part of the ongoing Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo which is being held at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel gardens which brought together national and regional exhibitors and notably dozens of international hosted buyers and travel media, to not just do business but also to give Uganda a visibility boost through on site reports about the most popular national parks and tourism attractions.
It is worth noting that this is the first time that the three governments have committed and successfully executed joint promotional initiatives; with a major focus on regional and domestic tourism. These initiatives are expected to be a game-changer and I am optimistic they will cement our belief in regional tourism and set the stage for further innovative endeavours.
