By Frank Kamuntu
Nairobi: The 8th edition of Magical Kenya Travel Expo (MKTE) an annual, high profile international tourism Exhibition that attracts participation from both local and international trade partners
The expo brings together all tour operators, travel agents, and destination managers of the specific companies and provides a unique opportunity for the tourism business operators to meet their clients, network, and market and discuss business.
Uganda is among the interested countries for this expo and has set a team comprising of 18 tour operators and led by Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) to showcase Uganda’ tourism offerings at the 8th edition of the Magical Kenya Travel Expo (MKTE) to be held from the 2nd -4th October 2019, at Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi, Kenya.
This expo is expected to attract over 170 exhibitors and 180 hosted buyers registered from 20 countries around the World offering an attractive platform for Uganda to showcase. Uganda will this year showcase Adventure, Golf Tourism and Nightlife under the theme; “Uganda: The adventure capital of East Africa.”
Uganda Tourism Board Chief Executive Officer, Lilly Ajarova said, “This is a very good opportunity for Uganda to tap into various operators and visitors from Kenya and across the world. We shall have the opportunity to showcase to a varied group trade buyers and ensure that our tour operators get business as they sell Uganda.”
Mrs Liry Ajarova added “UTB will conduct destination training for 50 key expatriate communities living in Kenya, government officials and Kenya Tour Operators. As part of our strategy to work with foreign missions, we shall also train embassy officials at the Uganda High Commission in Nairobi on how to market Uganda’s tourism at their various platforms.”
29% of total tourism arrivals registered in uganda were from kenya and African land markets (regional and neighboring countries) that entered Uganda by road makeup 69% of Uganda’s international arrivals, and grew by 6.1% in 2018 and this makes Kenya to remain Uganda’s biggest source market for tourists in the region
2018 Tourism Arrivals In terms of arrivals, Uganda’s international tourism performance in 2018 was above the rate of continental and global tourism growth.
Uganda witnessed a 7.4% increase in international tourist arrivals in 2018, growing from 1,402,409 in 2017 to 1,506,669 in 2018. Direct revenue from international tourism rose to US$1.6 billion in 2018, compared to US$1.453 billion in 2017.Tourists from international air accounted for approximately 31% of the total international tourist arrivals to Uganda in 2018, growing by 10.2% compared to the previous year. Growth was recorded from Europe (+13.8%), the Americas (+9.2%), Asia (+10.2%) and the Middle East (+9.7%) in 2018
