UGANDA NAMED 5TH BEST AT RECENT ITB
‘It was a bit disappointing to only get 5th, but then, it is still 5th for all of Africa’ said a participant to the recent ITB to this correspondent last weekend, when discussing the performance of the country at the world’s most important tourism trade show. Last year Uganda came a respectable third after Rwanda and Burundi. ‘Personally I think we did better than last year but then the competition also does not sleep. They have all realized that being crowned top of Africa has benefits in marketing the country and so we tried, and others tried too. Last year we had the 50th anniversary of Independence to promote, being named by the Lonely Planet as the top global destination and this year we used the National Geographic ranking which makes us a top destination for 2013. We need to take stock now and see where we can improve. More money would have helped but we shall lobby for that ahead of the budget reading. We have a serious minister now and I think she can persuade her cabinet colleagues to fund marketing better, let’s hope’.
Congratulations nevertheless to the Ugandan participants for a job well done to put the country in Africa’s top five, one of tourism’s BIG FIVE, if not in numbers but certainly in attractions, scenery and hospitality.
