Erick Ntalo the public relations officer of the chimpanzee sanctuary conservation trust has called upon different sectors in the economy to support and prioritize the tourism sector since it’s the leading foreign exchange in the country.
Speaking at the Sunrise party that took place in Entebbe on Saturday, Erick said that tourism operators need to carry out more mobilization and provide information to Ugandans so that they can be exemplary in supporting the sector.
“we the operators have not done enough to give people the information about tourism, people think that when you speak about tourism you should go to National parks yet almost everywhere we are surrounded by tourism site for example we have zoos, reptile villages, Gadhafi mosque” he said.
“I am happy that the number of revelers at Ngamba Island has increased in the year 2017/18 but we still need more Ugandans”. He added.
Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary was established in October 1998 to care for orphaned chimpanzees that have been rescued by the Uganda Wildlife Authority.
It was established as a combined national and international initiative and a globally recognized collaborative conservation effort, geared towards developing and implementing a long-term strategy for conservation of chimpanzees and their habitat.
Data from Uganda Tourism Board shows that tourism now contributes nearly 10 per cent to Uganda’s Gross Domestic Product. The sector raised at least USD1.45bn (ugx5.4 trillion) in 2017, making it the country’s largest foreign exchange.
By 2020, this figure is expected to double to ugx10 trillion (USD2.4b)
The research that was conducted by world travel and tourism council revealed that, Uganda generated UGX2, 592.9bn in visitor exports in 2016. And by 2027, international tourist arrivals are forecast to total 2,486,000, generating expenditure of UGX6, 535.2bn, an increase of 7.4% annul.
In March 2018, CNN ranked Uganda 5th best destination in the world
