·”It’s not merely the abundance of attractions but the excellence of our ancillary services that matter. Consider the Pissing Man in Brussels, which draws 3 million tourists annually; we can aspire to achieve the same.” – Matsiko Kahunga
‘Hands-up here, if outside your gate, you can walk 200 metres barefoot…or even 500…let’s discount the outliers. And this is the city we are marketing to international tourists…we must begin with the basics. We had not met for some good time. The last time we interacted closely was during a similar conference by the Uganda Local Governments Association (ULGA), during which he rooted for government banning private housing. They published his philosophy and arguments in a Daily Monitor article. He was then a local government leader in one of the eastern Uganda districts, but has since retired from active politics and today he is into tourism and hospitality.
He runs a budget world class bed-and-breakfast, popularised as BnB. And so it was that we met during the two-day tourism development conference by the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities (MTWA), as part of the Tourism Week celebrations, culminating into the World Tourism Day national celebrations in Hoima City.
The first day was for the dissemination of the Tourism Development Programme Review Report, while the second day focused on greening tourism. According to Mzee Sage, greening and developing tourism needs nothing beyond the basics, both at policy and administrative levels. For starters, he argues that Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) https://utb.go.ug/, the vanguard of our tourism sector, needs repositioning.
Details at their right time.
The debate should be whether we keep one agency with three autonomous directorates or do a total restructuring into three independent but lean agencies: one charged with licencing, quality assurance and standards; another with marketing and promotion; and the third handling of business and product development. On business development, for example, there are sites such as The Equator on the international highway at Kayabwe in Mpigi.
This spot can be developed into a highway stop-over and recreational centre in a planned, focused manner. Similar sites and spots across the country can be identified and developed, in partnership with the relevant stakeholders, liaising with the regional tourism clusters.
On the marketing front, the agency must have a permanent physical presence in key tourist-source capitals. Open marketing bureaux, manned by seasoned marketing honchos, with profit-driven performance targets.
This has been raised several times, but it seems no specific body is tasked with its implementation. In the realm of tourism segmentation, Uganda is a destination for budget adventure tourists on the global scale, while on the regional scale, it is more of cultural and faith tourism: relatives and friends visiting from across the borders and pilgrims into holy places. This category of tourist requires budget facilities.
And budget does not mean substandard.
A tourist travelling by public transport in a decent, clean, scheduled, swipecard bus will derive the same degree of satisfaction as one landing in a chartered jet and chauffeured in a top-range station wagon. A BnB in a quiet neighbourhood, managed by a professional, courteous and informed staff, with clean rooms, linen and healthy, hygienic delicious meals, will satisfy a budget tourist into recommending Uganda to his friends and family, the same way a high-end cruise-ship tourist will do after a memorable experience in a five-star hotel.
It is such world-class PSV transport and budget BnB facilities that a profit-driven UTB parastatal would run. Inter-cluster tours, enabling Ugandans to see their country, is another product UTB can manage alongside clusters: annual national and international tourism events rotated across clusters, in addition to cluster-specific events such as cultural days and the Kagulu Hill type of adventures.
On greening, it takes nothing beyond administrative measures: let NEMA enforce the banning of kaveera, and our floods will be cut by 80%. Domestic, institutional and industrial waste can be sorted at source. Biodegradable waste is a money minting resource. Compulsory catalytic converters into all vehicles will cut our air pollution by 75%. Fumigation chambers in cities and towns will give us hygienic private and public vehicles. Kiira Motors can work with Mobius Motors in Kenya to produce a standardised electric tourist ‘kangaroo’ station wagon. Yes. It is possible.
And once we have our basics right, we shall have the confidence to aim for the big pocket tourists…it’s not about the many attractions but the quality of ancillary services: the Pissing Man is Brussels attracts 3 million tourists annually…and we can attain this.
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Cover Photo Credit: Bus-Rapid-Transit-BRT-project of Tanzania
