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President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has met a group of travel journalists from Denmark at State House Entebbe, during which he encouraged them to promote Uganda's tourism sector to the world beyond.

They have been in Uganda since November 4 this year and have toured national parks, water bodies and other tourist attractions.

For their meeting with the President on Friday, the group was led by the Danish ambassador to Uganda, Signe Winding Albjerg, and his Ugandan counterpart Amb. Margaret M. Otteskov.

“Uganda is unique," Museveni told his guests.

"There are only two other places on the globe which are like Uganda, and one of them is a place in South America called Ecuador. The second other place is a part of Kenya near Mount Kenya.

"The uniqueness of these three places on the globe is that they are right on the equator. Here you are in the Northern hemisphere and if you go five kilometres from here you go to the South hemisphere, so Uganda is in both.

“We are right on the equator but with a high altitude. Here, where we are sitting is 1,200 metres above sea level. Some parts of Uganda go up to 5,000 metres above the sea with permanent snow. So, because of that, you have the sun all year around.

"This is really unique and there's no doubt about that,” added Museveni.

Danish ambassador to Uganda, Signe Winding Albjerg, and his Ugandan counterpart Amb. Margaret M. Otteskov.

'Comfortable here'

On tourism, the President said Uganda has a good number of lakes, mountains, rivers, wildlife such as mountain gorillas.

“There is no doubt that this part of the world is unique, and the population is ancient, so we have not had much interaction with outsiders. If you have never seen original Africans, here they are and they are very friendly.

“I think we have got the biggest number of mountain gorillas and you are right that our nature is actually more interesting than even the mountain gorillas.”

Museveni also assured the Danish delegation that if they want relaxation and comfort, Uganda is the ideal destination. He urged them to promote the country's tourism to the outside world.

“The latitude and altitude of Uganda are the most favorable. I don't want to be anywhere else on the globe, I am very comfortable here. I am glad that the Nordic people have discovered Uganda now.”

'Good target group'

On his part, Uganda's tourism state minister Martin Bahinduka Mugarra recognized the contribution of tourists from the Nordic countries, saying they play a vital role in promoting Uganda's tourism.

“We used to get around 17,000 visitors from the Nordic countries before COVID1-9. Now the difference between them and other visitors is that they tend to stay longer and spend a bit more," he said.

“On average, the Nordic visitor would spend around $6,000 (sh22.5 million) in Uganda. So even with the small number of 17,000, you can see they brought in $102 million (sh383.1 billion). So, it's a good group to target."

The minister urged stakeholders to work together for how best to market Uganda.

“The tourists have reduced a bit because of COVID, but we can work and bring them back because the numbers are good in terms of business.”

Amb. Otteskov informed President Museveni that as the Danish embassy, they are ready to promote Uganda's uniqueness to the world.

“We don't talk so much about our beauty," she said.

"One of the things that left these journalists restless is the Kazinga Channel. They said they have never seen it anywhere. They were amazed that such a place exists on earth.

“Your Excellency, I hope that you will give extra attention to the tourism sector," said Otteskov.

Amb. Albjerg told Museveni that Denmark is willing to work with Uganda to promote the country's tourism sector.

“There is potential that we can come to visit Uganda more. Nordic people love to travel and explore new things," she said.

"Our aim with this delegation is to see how we can inspire others to travel. We are here to give these journalists a feel of what Uganda can offer and see how we can target Uganda in a way that we can attract more tourists to visit this country.”