The Consulate General of Uganda in Mombasa in conjunction with the County Government of Kwale, Destination Diani and other key stakeholders from Uganda and Kenya Coast have today, 12th September, 2023 held a Media Launch for the 2nd Uganda- Kenya Coast Tourism Conference 2023 at Neptune Paradise Beach Resort and Spa, Diani, Kwale County.
The planned Conference that will take place from 13th- 14th November, 2023 will involve excursions at the Kenya Coast from 15th – 18th November, 2023 and a familiarization trip to Uganda from 22nd November – 3rd December, 2023. The Conference is expected to attract over 300 tourism players from both countries. This year’s theme is “Consolidating Networks, Synergies & Diversity to maximize the tourism potential between Uganda and Kenya Coastal Region.”
The Media Launch in Diani comes less than a month after a similar event was held in Kampala, Uganda on 22nd August 2023 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uganda. The event attracted senior government officials as well as tourism players from Uganda and the Kenya Coast. Both countries play a very significant role in each other’s tourism sectors. While Uganda is Kenya’s second biggest market source for tourists, Kenya remains Uganda’s leading source market for travellers.
The main actors at the summit include the tourism private and public bodies, travel trade, hotels, airlines, transport companies, safari guides, the diplomatic community, travel writers, culinary and cuisine specialists, academia, immigration, training institutes, among others. The conference will also be addressed by the private sector apex bodies like the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) and the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), the Chambers of Commerce from both countries.
The Conference will be addressed by the Minister of State for the Republic of Uganda, Hon. John Mulimba, the Minister of State for Tourism, Hon. Martin Mugarra, the Governor of Kwale County and representatives from Uganda Tourism
Board (UTB), Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and PSFU.
Uganda and Kenya Coast possess unique tourist attractions such as beaches and marine tourism in Kenya as well as mountain gorillas, adventure tourism on the Nile and cultural and religious tourism in Uganda, which attract tourists from both countries. As a result, there are already opportunities for collaboration and complementarity to boost each other’s tourism sectors.
The Consul General of Uganda to Mombasa, Amb. Paul Mukumbya emphasized the importance of promoting collaboration and building synergies between Uganda and Kenya Coast. It is important to leverage on the uniqueness of the products between the two countries to promote tourism between Uganda and the Kenya Coast.
This year’s conference will have testimonies from participants from the 2022 conference who had the opportunity to participate in excursions at the Kenya Coast and the familiarization trip to Uganda. There will also be opportunities to network and build partnerships that can help grow the tourism sector between the two countries. He added that Uganda and Kenya enjoy warm fraternal relations with a combined population of over 100 million people. Both countries have airlines that fly between Mombasa and Entebbe. Uganda Airlines has a direct flight between Mombasa and Entebbe.
