Sandra Natukunda senior Public Relations Officer at Uganda Tourism Board. (PHOTO/PML)
KAMPALA – Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) has partnered with several media houses in a bid to promote the tourism industry both domestically and internationally.
The Deputy CEO at UTB, Bradford Ochieng revealed that the government agency consults regularly with the media to promote tourism.
“Tourism matters because it creates a value chain that affects everybody in all sectors of the economy.” He noted.
He has also revealed that the media contributes 80% of tourism revenue and in a mutual relationship tourism also contributes 25% of media’s revenue.
Mr. Ochieng has appealed to journalists and media houses, in general, to pick interest and research in the value chain for responsible reporting.
Speaking on the same workshop, his predecessor, Mr Stephen Asiimwe – the former CEO at UTB also recommend that domestic tourism needs to be boosted by the local media.
He cited examples of the International media like CNN, BBC, National Geographic (Nat Geo Wild) whose crews have been to Uganda several times to film our wildlife which promoted tourism for destination Uganda as a global brand.
UTB is currently hosting senior journalists in a 4-day media training workshop in Kalangala aimed at improving Uganda’s global image in a globally competitive sector.
This conference comes on the heels of several stories in the media that have been hurting the tourism industry and the country’s image at large.
The 4-day workshop is in its second day and majorly focusses on how to improve reporting in the tourism sector, it also intends to harmonise the media on how to report responsibly in the wake of a crisis like Ebola among other calamities.
This workshop has attracted sister agencies under the Ministry of Tourism, Which include; Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC), Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and other local government officials among others.
The on-going media training conference has attracted several players across all media platforms namely, from radio, television, newspapers, and new media like online news websites including PML Daily that is also among the media present at the prestigious conference.
