By Henry Mukasa

UGANDA attracts few tourists because of low publicity globally and an image stained by the bloody rule of former president Idi Amin Dada.

The tourism minister, Serapio Rukundo, said the negative image was immortalised in the award winning film, The Last King of Scotland.

“The flow of tourists has been low. Why? Because Uganda wasn’t known. The few who knew it, knew the Uganda of Idi Amin.

“The only thing that is going to change the perception of Uganda is the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

“We might spend all our money on it, but it’s worth it,” Rukundo stated.

Of the 842 million tourists worldwide last year, Uganda received only 535,898.
This was 68,170 tourists more than in 2005 and double of the 202,012 in 2000.
Two decades ago, in 1987, the country registered only 50,942 tourists.

Rukundo remarked that Uganda, as the Pearl of Africa, was positioning itself to get one million tourists.

He said CHOGM offered the opportunity.
He explained that the Uganda Museum was to be furnished with Uganda’s eco-systems and a cultural village, to give visitors an insight of the past and present.

The Uganda Wildlife Education Centre would be re-branded and new tourist attractions unveiled on World Tourism Day celebrations, to be held on September 29.

Rukundo admitted that his ministry still faced challenges, mainly in infrastructure.

He was responding to a question that one million tourists from China had not arrived because the Uganda lacked facilities.

“If the one million Chinese are to come, we have no capacity to handle them. Suppose 300,000 of them land at Entebbe, do we have the buses and guides to take them around?” Rukundo asked.

He said the challenge of hosting about 5,000 CHOGM guests would leave his ministry more prepared.

Rukundo made the remarks yesterday at a press briefing at the Media Centre in Kampala.