This is the second part of the paper presentation made by Bradford Ochieng, Deputy-CEO of Uganda Tourism Board at the 16th Akwaaba African Travel Market, the leading Pan-African Tourism Expo.
In the first part, we were given a general overview of the East African country known as the Pearl of Africa.
Here, we explore the origins and evolution of Uganda as a MICE destination.
In a bid to diversify Uganda’s tourism offering to encompass more than leisure, the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) has prioritized the promotion and development of business tourism (MICE).
This is expected to increase the number of tourist arrivals as well as tourism receipts/earnings from business travelers.
In the Fiscal Year (FY 2018/19), the Uganda Convention Bureau (UCB), charged with the promotion of MICE tourism in the country was established in the Ministry of Tourism.
It was later transferred to UTB for implementation of the MICE Strategy.
Furthermore, Uganda’s MICE private sector established a supporting association UACII – the Uganda Association of the Conference and Incentives Industry to streamline the operations, increase lobbying power and coordination with the UTB.
With the above, Uganda is progressively improving in the ICCA annual ranking where in 2019, she was ranked 6th on the ICCA MICE World ranking for meetings and conferences hosted in Africa.
Major MICE Businesses Uganda Hosted in Recent Past:
❖ World Cross Country Championship (2017) — 1000+ delegates
❖ Now Conference: Africa Youth and Migration (Sept 3–5, 2017) — 500+ delegates
❖ Africa Emerging Leaders Conference (ELC), (Oct 4–5, 2017) — 500+ delegates
❖ International Conference On Family Planning (Nov 12–15, 2018)
❖ 15th International Conference on Urban Health (2018) — 500+ delegates
❖ Africa Now Summit (12–13 March, 2019) — 1000 delegates
❖ The 4th African Tea Convention and Exhibition (26–28, June 2019) — over 600 delegates
❖ Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), (19–29 July, 2019) — over 400 delegates.
❖ 2nd Congress of the African Primatological Conference (2–6 Sept 2019) — over 150 delegates.
❖ Fourth African Judicial Dialogue, (30th Oct–1st Nov, 2019) — over 400 delegates
❖ 8th African Population Conference (18–22 Nov,2019) — over 1000 delegates
❖ The 64th Commonwealth Parliamentarians Conference (22–29, 2019) — over 2000 delegates
❖ African Water Association International Congress and Exhibition (Feb 2020) — over 2000 delegates
❖ Uganda Solidarity Summit on Refugees (2018) — over 1,000 delegates
❖ International Conference on Governance and Service Delivery in Developing Economies (October 2019) — over 400 delegate.
To be continued…
