Govt urged to play major role in marketing Uganda

 

Investors have advised government to prioritise marketing the country’s tourism potential in order to support the growth of the hotel industry.

 

Peter Ssegawa, the managing director for the Protea Hotel Entebbe argues that much as Uganda’s hotel industry is steadily growing, marketing the country’s tourism potential would be an added advantage because the hospitality industry mainly depends on foreign visitors most of whom are tourists.

 

“We take note that the industry is developing, on this note, I would request government to take a leading role in marketing the beauty of this country to attract more visitors, and the private sector players will also ensure that services offered measure up to Uganda’s billing of being the Pearl of Africa,” he advised.

 

He added that government had a duty to put in place modern training facilities to foster skills in tourism, hotel and hospitality in order to create a local human resource critical mass tallying with the new and dynamic job market demands.

 

 

Ssegawa was unveiling a new development that saw the successful expansion of Protea Hotel onto the local market, a franchise the continental hotel offered him four years ago.

 

The hotel’s first franchise in Uganda was clinched by city businessman and Uganda Investment Authority chairman Patrick Bitature, with an establishment at Kololo, one of Kampala’s upmarket residential areas.

 

According to the investor, the new franchise yielded an ultra-modern 75-roomed four star hotel stretching along the shores of Lake Victoria just less than a kilometer from Entebbe International Airport.

 

A franchise is a continual business contractual partnership in which companies with strong brands (franchisers) allow upcoming business establishments (franchisees) to trade under their (franchisers) brand names for better marketing purposes; and the two parties accordingly agree to share the financial proceeds from the business.

 

“This development is another vote of confidence in Uganda’s economy; the fact that Protea had an already operating partnership in Uganda, offering more opportunities like this means that Uganda’s  hotel industry commands impressive returns on investment,” Ssegawa said.

 

Protea Hotels is a South African born hotel management and marketing company, operating over 125 hotels in nine African countries.