UIA, UTB merger a welcome step!
Mar 26, 2004
SIR— I refer to your news brief in regard of the proposed merger between UIA
SIR— I refer to your news brief in regard of the proposed merger between UIA, UEPB and the Uganda Tourist Board.
When this idea was initially floated, it was based on an executive summary of a consultant’s report, which misrepresented the main recommendations in that report. This was pointed out at the time and, maybe because of the recognition that the proposal was flawed, maybe for lack of funds, the matter was put to rest at the time and UTB remained a single entity, serving the tourism sector and the country at large.
You now report that the merger, still rejected by the tourism private sector organs as well as the Private Sector Foundation Uganda for the same valid reasons as given years ago, is to cost the country some US$4m per year for three years, totaling to $12m. The entire government budget for the Uganda Tourist Board per year is less than sh400m or about $200,000, which has been a major reason why the Board could not function as it should, being chronically short of funds all the time.
The new tourism policy, as does incidentally the main consultant’s report reviewing such public sector entities, recommends that the board be gradually transferred to the private sector and that funding for its activities be generated through a tourism promotion levy.
UTA has made substantive recommendations in this regard, which the Government has not responded to as yet. Some of these recommendations are the ones the Cabinet now wants adopted in a merger.
We recommend the immediate establishment of a joint private/public sector working group to discuss this matter and take the private sector opinion and recommendations on board.
We cannot stand idle when the one major tool we have to promote our sector abroad is being played around with, irrespective how well it has functioned in the past. Some of the shortcomings
that are well known to us
are the root causes of the its poor performance.
Wolfgang H. Thome
President
Uganda Tourism Association
When this idea was initially floated, it was based on an executive summary of a consultant’s report, which misrepresented the main recommendations in that report. This was pointed out at the time and, maybe because of the recognition that the proposal was flawed, maybe for lack of funds, the matter was put to rest at the time and UTB remained a single entity, serving the tourism sector and the country at large.
You now report that the merger, still rejected by the tourism private sector organs as well as the Private Sector Foundation Uganda for the same valid reasons as given years ago, is to cost the country some US$4m per year for three years, totaling to $12m. The entire government budget for the Uganda Tourist Board per year is less than sh400m or about $200,000, which has been a major reason why the Board could not function as it should, being chronically short of funds all the time.
The new tourism policy, as does incidentally the main consultant’s report reviewing such public sector entities, recommends that the board be gradually transferred to the private sector and that funding for its activities be generated through a tourism promotion levy.
UTA has made substantive recommendations in this regard, which the Government has not responded to as yet. Some of these recommendations are the ones the Cabinet now wants adopted in a merger.
We recommend the immediate establishment of a joint private/public sector working group to discuss this matter and take the private sector opinion and recommendations on board.
We cannot stand idle when the one major tool we have to promote our sector abroad is being played around with, irrespective how well it has functioned in the past. Some of the shortcomings
that are well known to us
are the root causes of the its poor performance.
Wolfgang H. Thome
President
Uganda Tourism Association