With only one day left to mark the World Tourism Day, Uganda has taken up steps to prepare for celebrations which are due September 27, 2010. The celebrations started last weekend with a corporate social responsibility programme in Jinja, eastern Uganda. The event was a public-private association with members of staff from the private sector joining their counterparts in the public sector to clean up Jinja town and Mabira Forest. The main celebrations started yesterday on the 25th September with a theme- ‘Tourism and Biodiversity‘. In Uganda the merriment will mainly center on supporting and promoting marine tourism.
While addressing a press conference last week, Mr Baguma Cuthbert Balinda the executive director Uganda Tourism Board said that this change of focus from the usual tourist activities like visiting national parks is an eye opener to the industry players to realize that there is much more in Uganda ‘s tourism industry than just viewing animals.
Some of the tourism activities to be launched during the celebrations will include water sports like white water rafting, jet boating, bungee jumping, canoes rides and sailing. Other will include corporate golf tournament, horseback riding, a series of children’s activities and a tourism exhibition where the participants will display their products and services.
The marketing and public relations manager UTB Edwin Muzahura said that all these activities will be highly discounted for as cheap as US$ including transport , accommodation, meals , drinks and a tourism activity like White water rafting. The tourists will also have an opportunity to ride a horse for half-an-hour at only UShs30, 000 ($15). Besides the main celebrations on 27, there will also be media awards programme for outstanding sustainable tourism reporting where journalists from print, radio or television who have been covering tourism and conservation related issues will be honored.
The ceremony is meant to bring in over 100 people and the Prime Minister of Uganda is going to solemnize. On the international prospect, a board of leading tourism and biodiversity experts will meet in China on World Tourism Day (WTD) to discover the efforts between tourism, biodiversity and sustainable development in an event marking the official celebrations of WTD 2010 (27 September).
WTD, is held this year under the theme ‘Tourism and Biodiversity’, in support of the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity. China is one of the world’s most biologically diverse countries and a major tourism destination.
By TANAH HADIJAH
UGANDA SAFARI NEWS
