The Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) will next year host the 5th annual Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo (POATE) after a year hiatus.
The three-day tourism and travel trade exhibition expo, which will run from February 4-6 at the Speke Resort in Munyonyo, seeks to market and promote the East African country to a group of select hosted buyers in a broader goal to increase tourist arrivals to Uganda.
“POATE 2020 will integrate a business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) trade event format under the theme ‘Inspiring high value engagement to promote intra-Africa travel for leisure, business and adventure,’ aimed at raising Uganda’s profile as a preferred destination in the region and internationally,” said UTB senior public relations officer Sandra Natukunda in a statement.
Uganda tourism minister Ephraim Kamuntu said tourism had long been advocated as an alternative strategy for economic development and social reconstruction.
“The focus on Intra-Africa travel during this expo and beyond is aimed to increase the number of African arrivals to Uganda,” he said.
“With the revival of … Uganda Airlines, regional connectivity is easier and this among others will allow for intra-Africa travel to thrive.”
Uganda received 1.8 million tourists in 2018, up from 1.4 million in 2017, according to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics.
The 1.4 million arrivals in 2017 pumped in about $1.4billion into the economy, which contributed to about 10% of the GDP.
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