Save our tourism industry
Jun 03, 2009
EDITOR—I request the Association of Uganda Tour Operators or the Uganda Safari Guides Association to intervene in the operations of tour companies to save Uganda’s tourism industry.
EDITOR—I request the Association of Uganda Tour Operators or the Uganda Safari Guides Association to intervene in the operations of tour companies to save Uganda’s tourism industry. If this is not done, we may lose more clients due to the unprofessional tour guides employed to guide our clients. With today’s liberal economy, everyone is free to start any type of business but it requires some professionalism in the tourism industry.
Today, we have more than 100 tour companies in Uganda but about 80% of them employ taxi drivers who claim to know all parts of the country!
The truth is that such people hardly know anything about the flora and fauna of the region, which most tourists are interested in. One time I was in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park birding with my clients and there came another group of tourists led by the so-called ‘tour guide’ who named each bird which came to the sight of his clients in any way he wished.
A scaly francolin was called a forest chicken; a helmeted guinea fowl was named a forest hen, the lanner falcon was called the chick eater, etc. On each occasion his clients told him the right name of the bird because they had guide books! So how do you expect such a client to comment about Uganda’s tour guides?
Peter Nsubuga
Director PR Eco-Specialists Tours
Today, we have more than 100 tour companies in Uganda but about 80% of them employ taxi drivers who claim to know all parts of the country!
The truth is that such people hardly know anything about the flora and fauna of the region, which most tourists are interested in. One time I was in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park birding with my clients and there came another group of tourists led by the so-called ‘tour guide’ who named each bird which came to the sight of his clients in any way he wished.
A scaly francolin was called a forest chicken; a helmeted guinea fowl was named a forest hen, the lanner falcon was called the chick eater, etc. On each occasion his clients told him the right name of the bird because they had guide books! So how do you expect such a client to comment about Uganda’s tour guides?
Peter Nsubuga
Director PR Eco-Specialists Tours