Kenya and Uganda has formed a tourism pact while agreeing to collaborate with each other to boost tourism revenue in their respective countries.
The collaboration includes a merging of culture between the two east African countries with the goal of driving up the number of visitors each country receives.
According to Business Insider Africa, the both countries plan to integrate certain aspects of their culture including dance, traditional cuisines and other cultural activities to create an atmosphere of cross-cultural tourism driving up the revenue they both make from tourism.
The above decision was hatched during a 4 day visit by the Ugandan consulate to Mombasa. The four-day trip was concerning the Uganda Festival, a culinary and cultural event organized in Kwal, Kilifi, and Mombasa. The festival aimed to attract Kenyan and international visitors.
“The aim of the festival is to expose the unique Ugandan products to a wider number of corporate Kenyans, and other regional and international tourists at the Kenya coast,” the Consulate General of the Republic of Uganda, Paul Mukumbya stated.
The Consulate general explained that 500,000 Kenyans visited Uganda and 200,000 Ugandans visited Kenya for business and tourism in 2023.
“Kenya is the number one source market for visitors to Uganda. Last year, the official figures indicate that almost 500,000 Kenyans visited Uganda,” he said.
“This is why we are sensitizing more Kenyans and more international visitors to come and sample products in Uganda,” he added.
The two east African countries share a border and have a long history of trade and interaction between them.
What To Know
The Tourism sector in Kenya is one of the key drivers of the Kenyan economy earning the country over $2.1 billion in 2022. Tourists from the United States account for the highest international tourists that visit the country while the country also gets a significant number of African visitors as well.
Tourism is also big in Uganda contributing to about 4.7 percent to the country’s GDP. The east African country raked in over $1 billion in 2023 from tourism.
The Cross-cultural initiative planned by both Kenya and Uganda is aimed at merging certain aspects of its culture which includes Cuisine, Dance and other cultural activities to increase the number of their citizens visiting both countries directly boosting tourism revenue.
