UWEC earns sh300m
Jan 31, 2003
THE Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) earned sh300m from visitors last year, top officials revealed this week.
By Gerald Tenywa
THE Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) earned sh300m from visitors last year, top officials revealed this week.
UWEC public relations officer Janet Ssenyonga said in an interview with The New Vision that 142,539 visitors were received in 2002, compared to 122,059 the previous year.
She said about a third of last year’s visitors were adults and the rest were school children who went to the centre for educational tours.
“The number of visitors is increasing. This is good because of higher revenue and education to the population,’’ Ssenyonga explained.
She said funds collected are used to buy food for the animals and the Zoo keepers.
She said this helps in reducing dependence on donor funds.
Ssenyonga attributed the increase in number of visitors to the promotional awareness drives that were conducted last year.
The visitor numbers to the wildlife education centre have been increasing since the mid 1990s when the Zoo which had been run down was revamped.
Wilhem Moeller, an expatriate whose contract expired last year was one of the architects of the restructuring process.
UWEC executive director Betty Kamya said the proceeds from the visitors were increasing every year.
She said the Wildlife Conservation Society of New York had played a vital role in the restructuring process of the zoo to the wildlife centre.
She said a conservation endowernment fund to which President Yoweri Museveni contributed $100,000 would support their conservation initiatives.
Kamya emphasised that wildlife was probably the single resource in which Uganda could out compete most nations of the world, including highly developed nations.
Said she: “Uganda not only boasts of a half of the world’s population of mountain gorillas, but more than doubles the variety of bird species of the entire continent of Europe.’’
If profitable trading is about comparative advantage, there is no doubt that with adequate attention, wildlife and eco-tourism will easily become the most profitable activities for Uganda.
“It is therefore imperative to conserve what we have, through conservation education, and that is the primary purpose why the centre exists.â€
THE Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) earned sh300m from visitors last year, top officials revealed this week.
UWEC public relations officer Janet Ssenyonga said in an interview with The New Vision that 142,539 visitors were received in 2002, compared to 122,059 the previous year.
She said about a third of last year’s visitors were adults and the rest were school children who went to the centre for educational tours.
“The number of visitors is increasing. This is good because of higher revenue and education to the population,’’ Ssenyonga explained.
She said funds collected are used to buy food for the animals and the Zoo keepers.
She said this helps in reducing dependence on donor funds.
Ssenyonga attributed the increase in number of visitors to the promotional awareness drives that were conducted last year.
The visitor numbers to the wildlife education centre have been increasing since the mid 1990s when the Zoo which had been run down was revamped.
Wilhem Moeller, an expatriate whose contract expired last year was one of the architects of the restructuring process.
UWEC executive director Betty Kamya said the proceeds from the visitors were increasing every year.
She said the Wildlife Conservation Society of New York had played a vital role in the restructuring process of the zoo to the wildlife centre.
She said a conservation endowernment fund to which President Yoweri Museveni contributed $100,000 would support their conservation initiatives.
Kamya emphasised that wildlife was probably the single resource in which Uganda could out compete most nations of the world, including highly developed nations.
Said she: “Uganda not only boasts of a half of the world’s population of mountain gorillas, but more than doubles the variety of bird species of the entire continent of Europe.’’
If profitable trading is about comparative advantage, there is no doubt that with adequate attention, wildlife and eco-tourism will easily become the most profitable activities for Uganda.
“It is therefore imperative to conserve what we have, through conservation education, and that is the primary purpose why the centre exists.â€