The Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo (POATE) 2023, Uganda’s signature tourism event scheduled to take place on April 26, is expected to attract over 300 exhibitors including regional and international Tourism boards plus associations.
The Expo which will run up to April 29, at the Speke Resort Munyonyo, will bring together public and private sector stakeholders along the tourism value chain as it has been the case, for the past six years.
Organised by the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), the Expo will as well, host 100 Africa Specialist Tour Operators (hosted buyers) from the core source markets which include South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Egypt as well as Spain and the United Kingdom.
According to Lilly Ajarova, the UTB Chief Executive Officer, the Specialist Tour Operators shall also target German-speaking countries such as Austria, Germany and Switzerland. “That way, Uganda will receive more travellers thus increased revenue and employment opportunities,” noted Ajarova.
Bradford Ochieng, the UTB deputy Chief Executive Officer explained that this year’s POATE will feature the emerging issues of sustainability and responsible tourism. Laying down the program, Ochieng noted that three days of the expo will be dedicated to Business-to-Business meetings with the participants, and the last day dedicated to consumers.
There shall as well, be farmilialisation trips within the country, to create awareness of the destination’s value proposition.
Claire Mugabi, the UTB marketing manager reminisced that Uganda was the first country to hold a virtual tourism Expo in the region, in 2021 when the world was still affected by the ripple effects of COVID-19. “POATE 2021 attracted 422 exhibitors and 428 hosted buyers, 30 speakers and 113 guest participants,” she stated. According to Mugabi, the value of each business lead at POATE 2021, was over shs78m.
Tourism at a Glance
Uganda received 1.5 million travellers in 2019 and revenue of shs4.5 trillion. According to statistics, 67.7% of all the arrivals originated from Africa whereas those from Europe comprised 16.1% and 9.8% from America while those from the Middle East and Asia, stood at 3.9%.
Ajarova remains optimistic that events such as POATE 2023, will continue to place the destination at the forefront of tourism promotion in the domestic, regional and international markets. “The expo will boost the destination’s domestic tourism activities and the awareness of the attractions in Uganda,” remarked the UTB boss.
This year’s POATE shall require local companies to pay shs500,000 for exhibition while regional and international companies shall have to part with shs1.9m. Meanwhile, Tourism Boards will benefit from the package of US$5,000 and bring along at least 8 co-exhibitors.
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