Hundreds of local tourists are set to embark on a five day expedition of Northern Uganda. The group is expected to traverse the North in a bid to unearth the hidden gems of the region.
The launch was presided over by the state minister of tourism, Martin Mugarra on Thursday 25th at Sheraton hotel in Kampala. The campaign has been dubbed “Explore Northern Uganda.”
The Explore North Campaign has come following two successful campaigns namely; #Explore East and #Explore West.
While at the launch, Mugarra said the campaign will consist of experiencing the culture, exploring unique attractions in the northern part of Uganda as well as having fun and entertainment by different celebrities and media influencers including Joseph Mayanja commonly known as Dr Jose Chameleon, Teacher Mpamire, Golola Moses among others.
He noted that as a result of such initiatives including the successful Eastern and Western campaigns, tourism numbers have increased, improving on the conservation efforts around the areas since 20% of the incomes collected are given back in terms community developments.
“Therefore i want to encourage Ugandans to visit the pearl of Africa because there’s no country with a good weather, natural foods, friendly people than Uganda,” he added.
Mugarra also remarked that tourism was the biggest sector before Covid-19 hence such initiatives are being put in place to have the Ugandans travel in a way of promoting the domestic tourism of their country.
“During COVID the number of tourists that were visiting all the conversation areas were 132,000. But as we speak now, by the end of last year (2022) the numbers increased to around 890,000 and our prayer is that, by the end of this year we hit a million,” minister Mugarra expressed.
Stephen Masaba, the Business Development Manager at Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) said, during the forthcoming explore North campaign, tourists will be able to have a boat cruise for about 45 minutes to Murchison falls on the river, zip-lining in the forest area among others.
He also urged the team not to feed animals with drinks and food “because some times these animals become violent which is harmful to humans.”
Joseph Mayanja commonly known as Dr. Jose Chameleon invited all Ugandans to join the campaign and also made an assurance of making the tour a memorable one.
Sydney Nabulya Kavuma the 2022 Miss Tourism Queen asked all Ugandans especially the youths to participate more in the tourism so that the sector reaches the desired position.
ACP Prince Alinda Barnabas the head of tourism police, gave assurance in regard to safety and security, saying the Tourism police will take charge as it has been the case with past campaigns.
Daniel Irunga the senior marketing officer at Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) encouraged Ugandans to proudly explore their own country and enjoy first hand experience of unique places hence showcasing to the world what Uganda as a tourism destination has to offer.
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