In continuation of our breakdown of the paper presentation by Deputy-CEO of Uganda Tourism Board, Bradford Ochieng, we examine the impact of COVID-19 on the Ugandan MICE industry.
In the previous part, we analysed the birth and growth of MICE tourism in Uganda; while the first part of the presentation gave us a general overview of the East African country.
Uganda enjoyed a rapid growth in the MICE industry. Having only established its convention bureau in FY 2018/19, Uganda climbed up to 73rd in the world and 6th in Africa on the ICCA ranking by 2019.
Uganda had several MICE events slated to be held in 2020.
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 85% of booked conferences to be hosted in the country were either rescheduled or cancelled outright, leading to huge losses.
Hotel occupancy which had risen up to 58.2% before COVID-19, dropped to 5.3%.
Here are some of the conferences that were successfully bidded for, but were either cancelled or rescheduled as a result of COVID-19:
❖ South to South Summit (G77 Summit 2020) for 135 countries plus China — April 2020. This was to be first of its kind on the African continent with over 6,000 visitors.
❖ World Health Summit Regional Meeting — April 2020. Another first to be held on the continent.
❖ Uganda International Oil and Gas Summit — June 2020. Postponed to March 2021.
❖ 3 3rd CBR/CBID World Congress — July 2020
❖ 1st International African Arts Association Conference — March 2020
❖ Africa Dairy Conference and Exhibition — July 2020. Postponed to March 2021
❖ 37th WAGGGS (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scout) World Conference. Cancelled. To be held in 2021 as virtual event.
❖ 21st International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA). Postponed to December 2021.
❖ MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMAs) Award 2020. Now scheduled for 2021
❖ Africa Sugar Conference. Postponed to October 2021
❖ Velo-city Conference. Postponed to 2022.
To be continued…
