By Kabuye Ronald
The state minister of Tourism, wildlife and antiquities, Hon. Godfrey Kiwanda Suubi has revealed that government lost at least 45.5 billion shillings from Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) in the first budget quarter of 2020.
Minister Kiwanda revealed that in the first quarter of 2019 that’s in the months of July, August and September government through the Uganda Wildlife Authority collected 47 billion shillings compared to the 1.5 billion shillings collected in the first of 2020.
Kiwanda who lamented about the big loss the country has made in the tourism as a whole said all is not lost since they are coming up with various strategies to recover from the huge loss made.
Among the strategies being taken include the digital marketing, association with the MTV MAMA’s awards, connect Uganda and social media campaigns, all as ways of opening Uganda to the rest of the world,
“MAMA’s are going to be here for six months and we shall be bringing renowned top artists here and hold virtual concerts in our national parks and various tourism sites in the country. That’s one way of digital marketing. We are also using other programs like connect Uganda and social media and we believe it’s going to yield fruits” said Kiwanda
He also called upon Ugandans to use this time to visit the various tourism sites and parks when the prices are still reduced by half and when the foreign tourists are still small in numbers.
“We reduced our entrance fee by half, so this Christmas festival season you don’t need to visit your parents just visit our tourism sites and national parks with your family and enjoy” said Kiwanda
