Uganda tourism has improved and developed amidst challenges. Some challenges have been solved though others still persist. These challenges include; Limited marketing due to insufficient funding is a serious problem facing the tourism industry and it has hindered many people from knowing the best Uganda tourist potentials hence affecting the smooth flow of tourist activities.
Competition
There is Stiff competition from the neighboring countries including Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda with similar tourist attractions. Uganda doesn’t have the big names like Serengeti and Masai Mara National Park, well protected areas with lots of abundant wildlife. Given that the country also passed through hard times of political instability, the country lost a good number of animals given that there was a lot of poaching and some of the animals even got extinct. The hunting dogs were last seen in Uganda in the late 1970s while the Rhinos were wiped out of the parks at the same time. The good news is that the past two decades have realised an improvement in the number of animals. The animal population has recovered though challenges of poaching still exist.
Infrastructure
Good infrastructure is still lacking in Uganda’s protected areas. The roads through the national parks have not yet been developed and some are impassable during the rainy season. Looking t at the competitive advantage, some neighboring countries offers better services in terms of infrastructures like roads, accommodation and above all tourist attractions. Kenya and Tanzania offers unrivaled game drive safari in East Africa.
Poor service delivery in some Ugandan lodges and Hotels paints a bad image to her tourism Industry. This comes after poor handling of the visitors when they come here for their safaris. This is as a result of employing the unskilled workers who are employed in hotels and safari lodges in Uganda.
Operational Problems
Tours and travel companies have been cited as some of the key challenges holding back the once vibrant industry. Some safari companies are not reputable to handle safaris of International visitors. Some companies lack reasonable safari vehicles to transport visitors from one place to another in time.
Lack of a national Jet, high air fares and inadequate physical infrastructure for internal flight connections; have further dealt a blow to the sector. This has affected the industry since most of the clients are always delayed because of the problems of the connections since Entebbe international Airport doesn’t handle direct flights.
East African aviation statistics show that unlike her neighbors like Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania that allocate $23 million, $10 million and $5 million in tourism marketing, Uganda invests only $300,000.This has affected the marketing of Uganda as a tourist destination.
Poaching is another setback to Uganda’s tourism. According to research, at least three elephants are killed in Uganda annually.
Natural Calamities like storms, Earth Quakes, floods and disease outbreak among others. Such incidents not only take away the lives of some animals and birds but also destroy Lodges, Hotels and sometimes cost human lives.
The human encroachment on the wildlife’s natural habitat. Man himself has retarded the development of Uganda tourism sector. As he looks for land to settle, farming and so on, he tries to destroy rocks, forest, swamps and so on. The listed are believed to be the home to wild animals and birds.
WHAT CAN BE DONE TO OVERCOME CHALLENGES FACING UGANDA TOURISM
Uganda has identified its competitive advantage. The country has a thriving population of primates that cannot easily be found elsewhere in East Africa. When it comes to gorilla safaris, Uganda is the favorite destination for tourists looking to meeting the endangered great apes in the wild. The UNESCO world heritage site of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is home to nearly half of the 1000 mountain gorillas left in the whole world.
In addition there is a good population of chimpanzees in prime locations in Uganda. Kibale Forest hosts the highest density of chimpanzees in the whole world. Elsewhere chimpanzees can be seen in Budongo Forest, Kyambura Gorge and Kalinzu Forest.
Uganda Tourism has a project proposal on sanitation facilities along the tourist circuits. However, due to the capital intensive nature of the project and yet it has no direct benefit to Uganda Tourism Night, we are seeking funding from government, None Government Organisation that can fund this on a purely commercial basis.
By training community guides, organized community groups that can provide equipment for rental to tourists who wish to partake of an activity in the area, home stay experiences, development of marketing materials, maps, build good roads, improve condition of airstrips/ airfields and introduce cheaper scheduled flights to the park areas so as to shorten the long driving distances to our parks.
There is also need to reinstate the national carrier for Uganda to provide direct flights, convenient and affordable travel fares from source markets and also to urgently up grade other Air strips like Kasese airfield to international airport status thus implement the decision to enable tourists arrive there directly.
Improve visibility by putting signage on the roads, position tourist police along the road side to allow tourists to report any misbehavior by tour operators like those leaving them on the road side stranded.
Night game drives in all parks and bush camping and more circuits in the Murchison Falls National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park and Kidepo Valley National park.
Simplify merchant (Visa & Master cards) banking to increase the tourist expenditure in Uganda. Reduce the risk of losing cash and the inconvenience of carrying large wards of money.
There is also need for additional access points on the Rwenzori. Additional activities and a business development plan for Rwenzori.
Interest information and resource centre, restaurants, house boats, boat rides, additional walks, toilets along the circuits.
