Tourism sector expects increase in funding

By David Mugabe

The amount allocated to tourism promotion in the 2012/2013 budget will be a major illustration of commitment to a sector contributing more than 20% of the national budget revenue, analysts have said.

This is because at no time has the country been presented with a better opportunity to show its commitment to the sector than this year when several major international publications and organisations recognised Uganda’s natural abundance and tourism potential.

The most prime recognition was from “Lonely Planet”, the premier online tourism publication that declared Uganda as the best place to visit in 2012.

The national budget framework indicates that the 2012/2013 approved budget for the entire tourism, trade and industry will rise minimally by 0.1% from sh53.1b to sh65.1b.

But senior sources are worried that the overall ministry increase will not trickle down to tourism promotion which has been a major point of concern to key stakeholders and observers.

Cuthbert Baguma, the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), former boss the major promotional agency, said they (UTB) “may have to work within the constraints (budget).”

“It is not going to change (sh2b budget), there are no indications really. It sends us thinking hard,” said Baguma.

For several years now, sector players and observers have been baffled at the sheer lack of financial commitment since donor funding especially from the European Union into the sector dwindled close to a decade ago.

Already the 2012/2013 national budget framework has pointed to infrastructure as a major priority area for the Government.

The Government has always argued that channelling funds into infrastructure projects like the road network is one way of funding tourism. While this is true, evidence shows that a deliberate channeling of funds into promotional activities has a direct impact in attracting high spending travellers especially from Europe and the Americas.

This is the case with Kenya, Tanzania and lately Rwanda, which have all reaped big from a deliberate decision to pump money at key markets where the top dollar is.

Tourism minister Ephraim Kamuntu while announcing Uganda’s success at the 2012 ITB Berlin exhibition recently was non-committal, saying the budget cycle was still on.

Already, first quarter indications are encouraging according to information from the tourism ministry, which show that arrival figures are up.

Despite the low funding, tourism contributes 24% of the total national budget revenue.

It receives only less than 1% of the total national budget that stands at over sh10 trillion.

In the 2011/2012 period, foreign exchange earnings from the sector shot up to $662m (sh1.6 trillion) up from the previous year’s $90m (sh229b).

Even the sh2b that has been allocated to the sector for the last two years, not all of it gets to UTB at the end of the financial year.

Questions have also been raised about the capability and transparency of the promotion agency to handle the funds with integrity. There are reports that at some major exhibitions,

UTB officials abandon the stalls, causing embarrassment to the country.