The United States of America, the UK, Germany and South Africa are seen as the markets likely to generate most business for Uganda’s tourism industry in the near future.
According to results of a stakeholders survey concluded last December, a majority of the 64 tour operators that participated in the research thought the USA would lead in growth of Uganda bound tourists closely followed by the UK, Germany and South Africa.
The rest of Europe, domestic tourism and East Africa, in descending order, trailed the level of expectation from seven potential source markets. The results simply reflect the perceptions of the industry and do not explain the rationale behind the conclusions.
Asked to rate individual segments by their growth potential, gorilla tourism was ranked top, followed by the safari, bird watching and other primates. New growth areas such as mountaineering, trekking, adventure, culture and education followed in that order.
Consistent with their conviction that the USA will be an important market for Uganda, 91 percent of the local tourism fraternity also voted online media as the most important marketing channel. Travel agents, word of mouth, media publicity, PR and TV advertising follow, with print media advertising coming last. According to results of the US and UK consumer survey published in the first edition of Tourism Update, Americans more than Europeans depend on the internet as a source of tourism information.
The local industry sees technology as an enabling tool for more effective marketing and delivery of more services. But its adoption is being hampered by the high capital costs involved and low recognition of the accompanying productivity and efficiency gains.
Marketing Strategy Flagged Off
The local tourism fraternity concluded a marketing strategy workshop on February 24, at the Hotel Africana in Kampala. Representing Hon. Jovino Akaki who holds the tourism docket, Minister of State for Trade Hon. Richard Nduhuura flagged off the workshop.
Nduhuura said for Ugandan tourism to outgrow its difficult past, it should seek to build a presence in under-developed source markets and exploit its natural and cultural diversity to attract up-market visitors.
During the workshop, stakeholders examined the country’s tourism product, unique selling points, the competition and key markets for Ugandan tourism. They also looked at what would most likely be the most effective marketing approaches for Uganda and obstacles to effective marketing of the country’s attractions.