Northern Uganda Tourism cluster has underscored the need for the government to increase funding to the tourism sector in Northern Uganda.
The call was made by Ms Kotinah Rosemary Akot, the Director Northern Uganda Tourism cluster who also doubles as the Regional coordinator for Miss Tourism Northern Uganda.
According to her, there has been a regional imbalance in the sector share of the National Budget towards tourism for Northern Uganda adding that this constrains the growth of the sector in the region.
“The parliament is always passing out huge budgets on the tourism sector but the unfortunate part of it is that Northern Uganda does not get even a penny from such budget and yet we always market the region exactly just the way other regions do,”
Ms Akot said on Sunday during the unveiling of Northern Uganda miss Tourism pageants 2022-2023 at 291 suites in Lira City.
Akot said due to lack of financial support many girls end up sitting on their talents because they cannot go for international competition once qualified.
“Sometimes if a pageant contestant from Northern Uganda wins tonight and tomorrow it’s miss tourism international where she is supposed to go for the international pageant, many end up not going due to financial constraint,” Akot added.
Akot says that Northern Uganda has a unique tourism sites like Odek hill in Omoro District commonly known as Kony hill, where the Lord’s resistance Army rebels were camped, Kabalega in Kangai Town council,in Dokolo District where it’s believed that Kabaka Mwanga of Buganda and Omukama Kabalega of Bunyoro Kitara kingdom were captured in 1899 under the command of the British colonial masters for opposing the british rule,Tyen Olum in Ibuje hill in Apac District, among others which calls for more funding from the government.
She said as Northern Uganda Tourism cluster, they always struggle to raise money from the well-wishers to ensure the unveiling and competition of the miss tourism contestants is made a success.
Meanwhile Andrew Ojok Oulanya, the Member of Parliament for Omoro County said he will support events of the miss tourism in Northern Uganda and rally for support from the government through the tourism sector.
On July, 28, 2022, a team from the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities held an engagement meeting with the leadership of Dokolo District in which they unveiled plans of gazetting tourism sites in memory of Kabaka Mwanga and Omukama Kabalega in Dokolo.
The tourist sites include Kangai town council in Dokolo district where it’s believed that Kabaka Mwanga of Buganda Kingdom and Omukama Kabalega of Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom, were captured in 1899 under the command of the British Colonial masters for opposing the British rule, Komora tourism site in Adeknino Sub-county in Dokolo District where two kings are said to have been settling in before they were captured.
Ms Eunice Ngangeyu, a research officer at Uganda Museum said that the move will help minimize complaints of regional imbalance in the sector.
According to Ngangeyu, the ministry has contracted Alvin and Partners Ltd, a company located in Makindye division in Kampala, to start the primary work of surveying the Land and later obtain a land title before the government starts injecting money to develop the place.
“After completing the whole process, the two sites will be gazetted as tourism sites in Uganda,” She added.
Uganda this financial year allocated shs 194.7 billion to complement private sector investment and support the recovery of the tourism sector.
