UGANDA IN ADVANCE STAGES OF MICE STRATEGY AND POLICY FORMULATION

Uganda tourism stakeholders gathered at the Kampala Serena Hotel on Friday (4th August 2017) in a consultative meeting on Uganda’s MICE Strategy and Policy. The creation of the Strategy and Policy has been led by the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities-Uganda with the guidance of Business Tourism consultants Rick and Colette Taylor and consultation from various players from the tourism public and private sector.

At the workshop it was highlighted that Uganda’s Tourism in all forms has limitless potential, if properly exploited. The consultants revealed that like many African countries, the Meetings, Incentives Conferences and Events (MICE) Tourism Segment in Uganda has the capacity to trigger a multiplier effect of even up to 30 times the initial investment. “On average business travelers budget to spend at least US$400 per day”, Rick Taylor mentioned.

Recommending the creation of a bureau to manage Uganda’s MICE tourism, the Uganda Conventions Bureau, the consultants also cited several factors that contribute to the success of business tourism in any country including the quality of tourism infrastructure, safety and security of the destination, the destination’s ICT readiness, ease of access, price competitiveness and transport infrastructure, among others.

There was a collective essence of interest among the different tourism players present at the meeting to support the strategy and they all jointly desired the expedited implementation of the strategy, in order to attract more business travelers to Uganda, consequently increasing the tourism receipts and to contributing to job creation.