Most tourists visited Albertine rift last year â€" expert
ABOUT 130,000 local and foreign tourists visited the wildlife conservation areas in the Albertine Rift last year.
By John B. B. Nzinja
ABOUT 130,000 local and foreign tourists visited the wildlife conservation areas in the Albertine Rift last year.
“This accounts for 98.6% of the tourists that visited all the national parks and other conservation areas in the country last year,†said Onesmus Muhwezi, a tourist specialist with Sustainable Tourism in The Albertine Rift, which is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The Albertine Rift includes Murchison Falls National Park, Budongo Forest Reserve, Rwenzori Mountains National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.
Addressing a training workshop at Rwenzori International Hotel in Kasese town on Wednesday, Muhwezi, however, reported a drop from 1,700 in 2008 to 1,281 in 2009 in the number of tourists to Rwenzori Mountains National Park.
Stanley Kanzenze, the chairperson of Rwenzori Mountaineering Services, linked the decline to the receding snow coverage on the mountain peaks, which had created wide and deep gullies. He said the gullies created new huddles which discouraged many tourists from hiking.
Muhwezi said 62,518 tourists were registered by Queen Elizabeth National Park, while Murchison Falls National Park received 39,237 tourists.
Lake Mburo conservation area received 17,521 tourists, while Mgahinga registered 11,806, with Kidepo receiving 2,924 during the same period, according to Muhwezi.
Ashley Silver, a training specialist with the project, said the USAID-funded five-year venture worth $6m (about sh12b), which commenced last year, was aimed at promoting wildlife conservation through tourism.
Ashley blamed the slow growth of the tourism industry in Uganda to the low budget for marketing the sector.
“The budget for marketing tourism in Uganda is too small compared to that of Kenya and Tanzania and the quality of the services in the national parks is also not as good as that in the two neighbouring countries,†Ashley said.
Koen Sneyers, a technical assistant with the Belgium Technical Co-operation in Kasese, announced that Belgium would soon publish a new tourist map of the Rwenzori region.
ABOUT 130,000 local and foreign tourists visited the wildlife conservation areas in the Albertine Rift last year.
“This accounts for 98.6% of the tourists that visited all the national parks and other conservation areas in the country last year,†said Onesmus Muhwezi, a tourist specialist with Sustainable Tourism in The Albertine Rift, which is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The Albertine Rift includes Murchison Falls National Park, Budongo Forest Reserve, Rwenzori Mountains National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.
Addressing a training workshop at Rwenzori International Hotel in Kasese town on Wednesday, Muhwezi, however, reported a drop from 1,700 in 2008 to 1,281 in 2009 in the number of tourists to Rwenzori Mountains National Park.
Stanley Kanzenze, the chairperson of Rwenzori Mountaineering Services, linked the decline to the receding snow coverage on the mountain peaks, which had created wide and deep gullies. He said the gullies created new huddles which discouraged many tourists from hiking.
Muhwezi said 62,518 tourists were registered by Queen Elizabeth National Park, while Murchison Falls National Park received 39,237 tourists.
Lake Mburo conservation area received 17,521 tourists, while Mgahinga registered 11,806, with Kidepo receiving 2,924 during the same period, according to Muhwezi.
Ashley Silver, a training specialist with the project, said the USAID-funded five-year venture worth $6m (about sh12b), which commenced last year, was aimed at promoting wildlife conservation through tourism.
Ashley blamed the slow growth of the tourism industry in Uganda to the low budget for marketing the sector.
“The budget for marketing tourism in Uganda is too small compared to that of Kenya and Tanzania and the quality of the services in the national parks is also not as good as that in the two neighbouring countries,†Ashley said.
Koen Sneyers, a technical assistant with the Belgium Technical Co-operation in Kasese, announced that Belgium would soon publish a new tourist map of the Rwenzori region.