Delegates attending the 7th Atlas Africa Conference on sustainable tourism and environmental education urged nations to ensure sustainable tourism that favors its nationals. The three day conference that has attracted over 100 delegates from over 30 countries opened at the Faculty of Technology Makerere University on Tuesday.
‘We need to make policies that make Protected Areas more sellable. The current tourism can only be said to benefit the rich class,” said Dr. Arthur Mugisha the Fauna and Flora International Uganda representative. Mugisha a former executive director for Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) said domestic tourism should be graded to accommodate the citizens.
He said Protected Areas should be graded in classes A, B, C and D to accommodate all citizens as a means of enhancing domestic tourism.
The executive director UWA Dr. Andrew Seguya said tourism was one of Uganda’s leading top three foreign exchange earners. He said at least 800,000 tourists visit Uganda annually earning the country over USD$600m. Seguya said the tourism industry in Uganda still needs a lot of investment from government to enable it prosper even further.
Tourism in Uganda offers activities such as gorilla tracking, chimp trekking, bird watching safaris, wildlife safaris, boat rides, mountain Rwenzori hiking, white water rafting, bungee jumping, city tours, cultural tours, and many others.
Compiled by Jackie
Uganda Tourism news, Uganda safari news and gorilla trekking
