Uganda tour firms which participated in the recently concluded Dutch fair bagged close to 1200 boongs valued at $1.m from their Dutch counterparts. The number of Dutch tour operators featuring holidays to Uganda in their multi- destination brochures has also tripled from 6 companies in 2002 to 18, a survey done by Uganda Tourist Board during the Vaantiebuers far held n Utrecht Netherlands has indicated. The exhibition ran from 5th to 12th January 2003.
UTB sales & Marketing Manager Ignatius Nakishero who led the delegation to the exhibition sad it was a total success. “After many years of reassurance and image re-packaging, the Dutch market has all of a sudden opened up to Uganda as a viable and vibrant tourist destination in this part of the continent” he sad. “To a good number of them Uganda was the next destination to be”.
Nakishero said the Ugandan team at the exhibition was overwhelmed by the positive change in perception by the Dutch Tour Operators.
“The task before the Dutch and Ugandan partners was to put in place an effective communication campaign that would focus consumer desire to Uganda hence triggering off a reasonable constant tourist traffic to Uganda” Nakishero said.
Arrival visitor statistics from UTB show that Uganda received about 2000 tourists from Netherlands in 2002. “This hard earned achievement in this market is owed to UTB and the stakeholders’ persistence in spite of the turbulence the industry has had to go through. The good news is that the business environment continues to get better.
Our plea to the authorities is not to relax, but to be more vigilant and to pay attention to the problems facing the industry and invest more manpower, infrastructure and marketing” Nakishero concluded.
After eight years of a concerted promotion drive the Dutch market has started to show signs of a prosperous tourist source market. The knowledge and interest in Uganda’s tourism products had always been evident. However thee urge to patronise Uganda as a holiday destination had all along been hindered by the perceived insecurity n the region echoed in travel advises issued by European and American foreign offices and departments.