East Africa participates in the Internationale Tourismus Börse (ITB)

During the recently concluded ITB in Berlin, Germany, all East African countries participated and among them all, Rwanda came out as the Best Continental Exhibitor followed by Kenya and Tunisia in the African category. Not so long ago, Rwanda was again awarded the Best of the Best Exhibitor award during the same event.

Amb. Yamina Karitanyi who is the Chief Tourism Officer at the Rwanda Development Board said that this success is probably because Rwanda has a very rich history, great culture, diversity and endless wildlife experiences to display during such exhibitions that they draw lots of people thus making it a huge attraction in Berlin. She added that this reinforces the confidence that the global market can easily be acquired considering the country’s tourism potential

ITB provides a great platform to show case Rwanda tourism products to the global world but also creates an opportunity for the Rwanda Tourism Businesses to meet, network and transact businesses with international travel buyers in a highly targeted and interactive environment.

Meanwhile, starting this very year, the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) will hire a PR/ Marketing representatives to represent Uganda in the European countries as a way of promoting Uganda as a great tourism destination in the different countries. Stephen Asiimwe who is UTB’s Chief Executive Officer said that this will improve Uganda’s performance on the world tourism market more so in the annual Berlin tourism expo where Uganda participated with the rest of the East African countries but did not perform as good as the others did.

He said although we did well compare to other years, it is important that we improve thus the purpose for the public relations representatives in Germany, Austria and Switzerland to help reach the media in those countries and also publicize our tourism sector in these countries. This is the short run will help increase on the visitors to our stall in the next exhibition.

Uganda’s delegation included tour companies, hotels mostly and government entities with the minister of tourism, wild life and antiquities, Marie Mutagamba as the head of delegation.  Uganda’s impressive performance is partially attributed to the partnership between the three East African countries under their joint tourism marketing committee (JTMC) under the northern corridor tripartite that was signed between Uganda Kenya and Rwanda.

East Africa tourist visa which was launched in Berlin last year is expected to attract more tourists to Uganda. This partnership is intended and has helped in promoting tourism in E. Africa as whole at a cheaper price compared to when it was a single country handling its business.

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