STORY: Uganda holds "Pearl of Africa" tourism expo
SHOOTING TIME: May 23, 2024
DATELINE: May 25, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:22
LOCATION: Kampala
CATEGORY: CULTURE/MARKET

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the Pear of African Tourism Expo 2024
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): CLAIRE MUGABI, Head of Marketing, Uganda Tourism Board
3. various of the Pear of African Tourism Expo 2024
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): CLAIRE MUGABI, Head of Marketing, Uganda Tourism Board
5. various of the Pear of African Tourism Expo 2024

STORYLINE:

Uganda is hosting a three-day tourism expo as the East African country strives to increase arrivals.

The Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo 2024, organized by state-run Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) under the theme "Responsible Tourism," opened in Kampala, the capital, on Thursday.

At least 250 exhibitors are expected to showcase various products, with more than 1,000 visitors likely to grace the event.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): CLAIRE MUGABI, Head of Marketing, Uganda Tourism Board
"This is a very important expo for us, because it gives us a global stage to showcase the tourism proposition or the tourism offering of Uganda. Every year, we bring in about 70 to 100 hosted buyers. These are buyers we bring from across the different source markets that we target. They come in from the USA, from Canada, China, UAE, different countries around the world, also target source markets in Africa. And we select top-tier Africa selling operators who we bring to attend this expo in order to have networking sessions, B2B meetings, and interactions with our travel trade, with the objective of linking them with each other in order to be able to sell Uganda."

Emphasis is being put on global emerging markets like China, Claire Mugabi, head of marketing at the UTB, told Xinhua.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): CLAIRE MUGABI, Head of Marketing, Uganda Tourism Board
"Traditionally we have been targeting markets like the USA, Canada, Germany. But in the last five years with the growing number of Chinese travelers around the world, they have a growing middle-income population who have the propensity to spend on travel. We have seen a growing number of Chinese travelers coming into Africa as a whole, and also a fraction of that coming into Uganda. So the potential of us to attract travelers from China is great."

Uganda aims to raise annual tourism revenue to about 1.9 billion U.S. dollars and increase inbound tourism revenue per visitor from 1,052 dollars to 1,500 dollars, according to the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities.

According to the ministry, the country's tourism revenue for the year ending 2023 rose to more than 1 billion dollars, up from about 687,200 million dollars in the year ending 2022.

The country received about 1.3 million international tourist arrivals in 2023, up 56.5 percent from 2022, with arrivals from Africa continuing to dominate Uganda's inbound tourism, at 89.2 percent, according to a report issued by the ministry.

Tourism is one of Uganda's major foreign exchange earners, contributing about 5 percent to the country's gross domestic product, according to data from the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Kampala.
(XHTV)