This week the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) stated that it is going to make the most of the visit of the football legends of FC Barcelona to showcase and market Uganda as a tourist destination overseas.
Uganda will be hosting these stars between 8th and 10th December and among the visitors that will be coming include Gianluca Zambrotta, Patrick Kluivert, Gaizka Mendieta, Louis Garcia, Edgar Davids, Simao Sabrosa and Carles Puyol and all these once played in one of the finest football clubs of the world FC Barcelona.
UTB intends to make a lot of money from the publicity since these stars attract a lot of media attention worldwide. The legends of FC Barcelona will have a Gorilla Safari to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest national park as well as Murchison Falls national park and even go to Jinja to check out the Source of the River Nile. The highlight of their visit will be a friendly-exhibition match in Namboole stadium with the Uganda Cranes.
The thought of these celebrities tweeting or even face-booking about the Uganda gorillas in Bwindi, and posting their pictures at the Source of River Nile
As reported by UTB, the estimated income of $2bn (approximately 5.3 trillion Uganda Shillings) per year over the next couple of years from the tourism industry are roughly one third of the yearly 2015-16 budget, an amount that shows the enormous contribution this industry will have in the coming years, exceeding almost any industry,.
Stephen Asiimwe the C.E.O of Uganda Tourism Board said that As part of attempts to realize the tourism sector’s full-potential, the tour of these football legends has to be completely incorporated covering the best of Uganda’s safari packages to comprehend this kind of figures, since these football stars originate from different countries across South America and Europe
Asiimwe went on to say that this legendary tour will come in handy following the endorsement of the East Africa Sports Tourism Initiative (EASTI) which is held yearly all over the region as this ministry taps into the sports sector.
These football legends are going to be accompanied by representatives from several international media houses.
Rayco Garcia, the director of RG Football Academy as well as a former player in FC Barcelona said that he would love to make a return visit to Uganda for a thrilling holiday especially because of the beautiful weather the country experiences which is very relaxing and outstandingly.
On that tour, UNICEF, together with RG Football Academy, will bring about 1,000 children from different districts across Uganda including Arua, Moroto, Gulu and Mbarara to watch the friendly-exhibition match as well as acquire some motivation from these international stars.
