Saturday 24 March 2012

Uganda Team Takes 3rd Place At Berlin Tourism Expo

Uganda recorded its best performance at the ITB Travel Exhibition in Berlin, Germany coming third among African exhibitors, and, for a brief moment, shedding off some of the negative publicity that has come with a video about the Lord's Resistance Army that has gone viral on the web.

"This was a great achievement, as the country has never been ranked at any level before this. This shows that the great efforts that are being done by the team at the new ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage are quickly bearing fruit and putting our country in the international spotlight," said the minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage. Uganda beat Rwanda and Kenya, its neighbours and main competitors at the ITB Berlin. Morocco was the overall winner, followed by Burundi. The ITB is one of the biggest travel exhibitions in Uganda's source markets. Organized by Messe Berlin GmbH, the exhibition, in which Uganda has participated since 2000, attracted over 20,000 international travel agencies.

According to the Minister, government is already working on a tourism review study and a tourism master plan, wildlife policy and strengthening of the institutions under its wing, so as to boost tourism to this country which in its current state is already the second biggest forex earner for the country. This all comes as the country prepares to celebrate its 50th independence anniversary. In the last 12 months, Uganda has won several international tourism recognitions. This is on top of beating other countries to hosting international conferences.

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