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News
from Uganda, "Gifted by
Nature"
By
Prof. Wolfgang H. Thome MBA
More->
New
Luxury Brand Hotels come to
Tanzania
After
a long renovation, the
Kilimanjaro Hotel Kempinski Dar
es Salaam, or Kili, as it is
fondly known by locals, opened in
splendour in August and will
regain its rightful place as the
popular focal point of the lively
capital city of Tanzania. The
hotel has been totally rebuilt as
a modern, eight-storey luxury
hotel. Boasting 180 rooms and
suites. (continued)
Who
is Swanair?
CARLSON WAGONLIT TRAVEL LAUNCHES
UGANDA FRANCHISE
Swanair Travel
and Safaris Ltd. is one of the
leading Ugandan travel agencies.
For the past few years they have
been operating under a
partnership agreement with CWT,
but in view of their expanding
business, which includes an
implant travel section at the US
Embassy in Kampala, the company
decided to take their
relationship a step further. In a
recent function at the Sheraton
Kampala Hotel the company
re-branded itself as 'Carlson
Wagonlit Travel Uganda'. Kristine
Pasi, Product and Services
Manager for the Global Partner
Network of the CWT HQ gave a
presentation on CWT's global
business links and the new
opportunities for the Ugandan
market as a result of the
increased cooperation levels. Ms.
Eugenie Nsubuga Windt, CEO of
Swanair and long serving
Chairperson of 'The Uganda
Association of Travel Agents
&endash; TUGATA' received a long
ovation at the end of the
presentation, which had filled
the Sheraton ballroom to capacity
with leading figures and
executives from government, the
business community and all the
airlines operating in and out of
Uganda. Galileo Uganda was also
represented and warmly
congratulated the CWT team for
the prominent role they played in
making use of the Galileo CRS,
which she said was also powering
the CWT software. Uganda
Investment Authority CEO Dr.
Maggie Kigozi in her keynote
address also recognized Eugenie
for the pioneer work she had done
for the travel industry in the
past and highlighted the numerous
awards conferred upon Swanair in
recent years by airlines and
travel associations. Adds this
correspondent in his capacity as
President of the Uganda Tourism
Association, of which TUGATA is a
leading member: 'I have known
Eugenie for the past 13 years and
rarely seen such a determined
lady. She knew in the early years
of Swanair where she wanted to go
and she has reached her goals. If
there is further innovation to be
seen in the travel industry in
Uganda in coming years, be
assured that Eugenie will be at
the very core of it and lead the
pack once again'
SHERATON
KAMPALA INCREASES 'NO-SMOKING'
ROOMS
As a
commitment during the recent
global anti-smoking-day, the
Kampala Sheraton has added more
floors to their 'no-smoking'
area, now covering 50 percent of
the entire hotel. By law smoking
in public areas and the
restaurants is already banned and
only on the outside terrace can
smokers still light up. Said
Jawaid Akhtar, the hotel's
General Manager in a reply to
questions posed to him by this
columnist: 'shortly after we
completed our phase 1 of
refurbishments and renovations it
was increasingly obvious we had
to cater for our rising numbers
of non-smoking guests. We
therefore decided to isolate four
entire floors and strictly make
these guest rooms' non-smoking
areas. Our breakfast room
Victoria, all function rooms,
meeting rooms and the Rwenzori
Ballroom are equally non smoking
areas. As a hotel in Uganda we
have taken a leading role in
creating smoke free zone in our
public areas'. It is not the
first time that Sheraton Kampala
Hotel has taken such an
industry-leading decision and
position to improve the condition
of its guests and visitors. Other
hotels in the city are now
expected to follow this
trend.
Sheraton
Kampala Hotel last weekend also
held a 'golf tournament' in the 9
acres of gardens surrounding the
hotel. Top business clients,
government officials, airline
managers and members of the
diplomatic corps were invited to
the one day event and both men
and ladies trophies were up for
grabs. The fully catered for
event, which also featured lady
caddies for the first time in a
'tournament' in Uganda, was
generally judged a success and
will be repeated in
2007.
UGANDA
WILDLIFE AUTHORITY GET NEW BOARD
CHAIRPERSON
Before moving
from Tourism, Trade and Industry
to the Energy portfolio Hon.
Daudi Migereko had appointed
prominent city lawyer Andrew
Kasirye as new Chairman of the
Board of Trustees for a period of
three years. He succeeds John
Nagenda, Senior Presidential
Advisor on Media Affairs, who
served for two terms.
KENYA
AIRWAYS PROFIT GOES
UP
Inspite of the
globally rising aviation fuel
prices, which are now at record
level, Kenya Airways posted a pre
tax profit increase of over 26
percent for the just ended
financial year while the after
tax profit still rose by 24
percent. Kenya Airways has in
recent years undergone a full
restructuring, acquired a new and
expanded fleet of wide body
aircraft, both B777-200ER as well
as B767-300ER, has spread their
network across Africa and into
the Far East and added extra
frequencies to their key
destinations (3 times a day
Nairobi &endash; Amsterdam). They
have without doubt become not
only an African airline success
story but can now hold their own
in global terms, where especially
American carriers are still
wallowing in red ink. And all of
this with a 'home grown' Kenyan
CEO at the helm. Congratulations
to 'The Pride of Africa' &endash;
a name now truly
earned.
Meanwhile,
Kenya Airways CEO Mr. Titus
Naikuni has made a commitment to
the Ugandan market that fares
would be reduced on the Entebbe
&endash; Nairobi route with the
resumption of the 4th workdaily
frequency and that special
excursion fares would be
introduced to market the
additional capacity now again
available on the route. Since the
introduction of KLM's non-stop
flights between Amsterdam and
Entebbe there is less connecting
traffic taking place between the
two airports, as the three weekly
KLM flights have soaked up some
of the pressure for seats. With
the introduction of flights to
Seoul / South Korea by Kenya
Airways in codeshare with Korean
Air there is however once again a
growing demand to connect through
Nairobi and additional new
connections to recently
introduced African destinations
has underscored the importance of
Kenya Airways as regional airline
giant.
SERENA
KAMPALA OPENING JUST WEEKS
AWAY
All hands are
now reported 'on deck' at the new
Kampala Serena Hotel (formerly
Nile Hotel) with the projected
soft opening just 5 weeks down
the line in mid July. The
recruited staff has now been
brought on duty and those 100+
staff, who were selected during
the 10 month operating period
before closure in December 2004
for deployment and training in
Serena's Kenyan and Tanzanian
properties, are now also
returning to their 'new'
workplace. They will form the
backbone of the team expected to
open the hotel. Serena's
philosophy is not just to offer a
5* hotel structure, something
which has been created over the
past 15 months, but to back it up
with 5* service by well trained
and dedicated personnel. The
formal opening date will be
announced in due course in this
column.
HILTON FOR
KAMPALA?
News have
emerged in Kampala, that one of
the new hotels planned for
opening prior to the Commonwealth
Summit in late 2007 would be
managed by Hilton International.
Confirmation has been sought but
no responses were received as yet
from either Hilton or the
promoters of the new hotel by the
time of going to press. The
promoters of the project, two
Sudanese nationals, have proposed
to invest some US Dollars 90
Million for the construction of a
300 suite and room hotel tower
and were offered a prime piece of
land of about 15 acres in the
very heart of Kampala's
fashionable Nakasero area to
construct the hotel.
Groundbreaking is reportedly
taking place on 15th of June.
Watch this space for further
developments.
NEW
MINISTERS FOR TOURISM, TRADE AND
INDUSTRY
As expected
and indicated in last week's
column, the Ministry of Tourism,
Trade and Industry has a new
political leadership. Cabinet
Minister is Hon. Mrs. Janat
Mukwaya and the State Minister
portfolios are now held as
follows: State/Tourism by Hon.
Serapio Rugundo, State/Trade by
Hon. Wambuzi Gagawala and
State/Industry by Hon. Prof.
Ephraim Kamuntu. Congratulations
to them all on their
appointments!
UCOTA OPENS
'RUBONI COMMUNITY CAMP' AT
RWENZORI NATIONAL
PARK
Following an
upswing in demand for
accommodation, the Uganda
Community Tourism Association
&endash; UCOTA has recently
opened the Ruboni Camp just
outside the Rwenzori National
Park entrance. As is customary
with UCOTA, local communities are
entirely responsible for the
maintenance and management of the
new facility, which presently
offers 4 bandas and tents
(sleeping 8) and will be expanded
as operations continue. A
restaurant with emphasis on well
cooked and well presented local
dishes offers meals throughout
the day for resident and non
resident guests. The new camp is
about 9 KM off the Kasese
&endash; Fort Portal road towards
the Mountains of the Moon and
occupies a 'spot with a view'
&endash; offering spectacular
sights towards the mountains and
also the surrounding area.
Information is available through
Mrs. Helen Lubowa at
ucota@africaonline.co.ug
STAKEHOLDER
CONSULTATIONS FOR NEW
CURRICULUM
The Uganda
national Hotel and Tourism
Training Institute in Jinja has
now, jointly with the Ministry of
Education and Sports and the EU
funded Uganda Sustainable Tourism
Development Programme, set the
dates for a comprehensive review
of the new curriculum proposals.
During the latter part of June
and in July relevant stakeholders
will have the opportunity to
discuss the modular structure of
the new draft curriculum and have
opportunity to input additional
details, before the National
Curriculum Development Centre
then reviews and (hopefully
swiftly) approves the new
framework. The constituent
members of the Uganda Tourism
Association, employers in the
hospitality and hotel sector,
other vocational and tertiary
institutions in the same field
and students representatives will
have the opportunity to be heard
together with representatives of
the Ministry of Education and
Sports and their education
related bodies and the Ministry
of Tourism, Trade and Industry
and their marketing and
conservation related
bodies.
B 737-200
ADVERTISED FOR
SALE
Speculation is
rife in aviation circles over the
owners of a B 737-200 which has
been advertised for sale in the
Daily Monitor (www.monitor.co.ug)
of 05th June. Only one such
aircraft is presently registered
in the country according to a CAA
source which preferred anonymity,
reportedly belonging to defunct
East African Airlines. Shell
Uganda had some time last year
applied for a registered charge
over the aircraft to secure a
substantial debt by the airline
for aviation fuel. CAA is also
reportedly owed money for fees
but this could not be
independently verified. The
carrier had been involved in a
long lasting dispute with Kenya
Airways over route rights between
Entebbe and Nairobi but, when
granted one daily flight in April
2005 at the expense of Kenya
Airways, failed to ever make use
of it, leading to a loss of over
48.000 seats in and out of Uganda
over the last 14 months. Reports
on the airline and its
misfortunes were regularly filed
in this column, the last one
revealing that Uganda airline
veteran Fred Obbo and his
associates had taken over all
shares of EAA. The Boeing 737-200
is reportedly a 1977 model (ex
United Airlines) and the asking
price was set at US Dollars 1.5
Million, generally considered
largely excessive for the type of
aircraft in the present business
environment. Fred Obbo's own
airline venture 'Africa Direct'
is reportedly in the market for a
newer and more fuel efficient
type of aircraft in a 'combi'
version, allowing both passengers
and cargo to be carried on the
main deck.
ANONYMOUS
LETTERWRITERS TRY TO SMEAR CAA
IMAGE
Letters
recently published in the local
print media with 'names withheld'
were attempting to smear the
image of the CAA. The Ugandan
aviation regulatory body has been
excelling in the region over the
past years and Entebbe
International Airport been
repeatedly voted as 'best East
African airport' in continental
surveys. CAA is currently engaged
in an ambitious expansion and
infrastructural investment
programme, which will in coming
years see the relocation of the
cargo section away from the
passenger terminal side to the
'old airport', where presently
the UN is maintaining its air
operations base for the supply of
its MONUC troops in Congo and as
an aviation springboard for other
ongoing operations in the region.
CAA has on occasions come under
'anonymous fire' by apparently
disgruntled employees and
ex-employees but always been
cleared of any alleged misconduct
by subsequent enquiries and
investigations.
NEW LODGE
FOR LAKE MBURO NATIONAL
PARK
A tented
safari lodge is presently under
construction outside Lake Mburo
National Park, overlooking lakes
Kachera on one side and Mburo on
the other. The Mihingo Lodge as
it will be known will feature 10
spacious, self contained tents
under high shades build of local
deadwood and will have a swimming
pool and other amenities upon
opening. Being located outside
the park the lodge will offer
guided walks and mountain bike
tours into the 200 acres of
surrounding land also belonging
to the lodge. Opening is expected
in early 2007. Watch this column
for update reports. Information
on this and other parks and
reserves in Uganda at the Uganda
Wildlife Authority site
www.uwa.or.ug
RWENZORI
CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS IMPACT ON
AVAILABLE ROOMS
With the
celebrations of the 100th
anniversary of the first climb of
the Mountains of the Moon by
Italian aristocrat Duke of
Abruzzi now just weeks away,
available lodge spaces near the
mountains have been filling up
rapidly. Jacana Safari Lodge in
Queen Elizabeth National Park is
reporting generally full house
over almost the entire period,
the commemorative expedition will
be up in the mountains in late
June/early July. Readers wishing
to visit this part of Uganda over
mid June till mid July are best
advised to secure accommodation
spaces in advance to avoid
disappointment. Additional
expeditions and climbs will be
organized through Uganda Wildlife
Authority and Rwenzori Mountain
Services and details can be
obtained from uwa@uwa.or.ug,
Tourism Uganda (Uganda Tourist
Board) at utb@starcom.co.ug or at
www.rwenzoriabruzzi.com
SN BRUSSELS
INTRODUCES 'FLAT BED' BUSINESS
CLASS SEATS
The formal
launch in Uganda of the newly
installed flat bed seats in
business class took place on 23rd
May with the completion of the
re-vamping of the aircraft fleet
interior cabin layout. The
coveted flat bed has become a
major selling point for airlines
around the globe and the
introduction of the new feature
on their Airbus A330 fleet will
definitely enhance the market
position of the Belgium based
carrier. SN presently operates 3
flights per week from Brussels to
Entebbe.
NILE WATER
TALKS IN CRITICAL
STAGE
Egypt will
host another round of crucial
talks with the East African
nations over the use of their
water resources, i.e. tributary
rivers to Lake Victoria and the
Nile waters in the face of stiff
resistance by the East Africans
over the ongoing recognition of
age old colonial agreements,
which were imposed on them at
independence by the British.
Britain had entered into water
use agreements with Egypt in 1929
and 1959 and the East African
states, in the face of a
prolonged draught, have flexed
their muscles over the unfettered
use of their water sources, which
they claim are their natural
resource, over which use they
must be able to decide as
independent states and not
vassals to outdated and enslaving
colonial agreements.
UGANDA
TOURISM BILL 'STUCK' WITH A
BUREAUCRAT?
While other
ministries in the final run in to
the 7th Parliament being wound up
on 11th May presented their
urgent bills for the required
hearings and approval, it now
appears that the draft tourism
bill was sitting on a
bureaucrat's desk for several
weeks, missing submission to
parliament. While seeking further
details and clarification about
this development from the
Ministry, the tourism private
sector already expressed their
disappointment and concern over
such failures. Much of the
implementation of the tourism
policy but also the creation of
the tourism development fund levy
is contingent on the law being
passed first, before such
additional measures as the
re-constitution of the national
tourist board or passing new
regulations can be
effected.
PRESIDENT
DIRECTS TAX WAIVER
IMPLEMENTATION
Following
sustained complaints from the
business community over the
ongoing foot dragging of the
Uganda Revenue Authority to
implement the government /
private sector agreement of
February this year, which was to
waive tax on diesel for
generators over 100 KVA capacity,
the President now issued a
directive to URA to 'implement
immediately' the agreement.
Businesses, including hotel and
meeting facilities, were bleeding
money during the current
electricity rationing regime,
when power is switched off for 24
hrs at a go, and often even
longer than that. The use of in
house generators at least keeps
the business going but at a high
cost, more so in view of the
recent price increases for diesel
and fuel, which have now reached
record levels. This reflects the
ongoing high crude oil prices on
the international market, which
hits developing countries
especially hard.
PLASTIC
BAGS TO FACE TOTAL
BAN
The
environmental management
authority NEMA has now called for
a total ban on production and
importation of plastic bags and
advised to use paper bags
instead. The demand has been
greeted with applause by
environmental and tourism groups
while the manufacturers
association has voiced its
concern and objections over the
long expected development, asking
for more time and other
mitigating measures to protect
the local manufacturers.
Discarded plastic bags account
for much of the waste problem in
Kampala and the urban centres, as
they are not bio degradable. They
also pose the additional problem
of clogging up drainage and
sewerage channels, causing
floodings and pipe
breakages.
UWA NOW
REJECTS GOLF COURSE
PLANS
In a press
conference held by Executive
Director Moses Mapesa, UWA
formally rejected the golf course
plan for Mweya Safari Lodge in
Queen Elizabeth National Park,
citing a 2003 requirement for a
comprehensive EIA, which the
concessionaire failed to carry
out.
An offer at
the time to relocate the project
to the park boundaries was
rejected by the concessionaire
but public pressure made the
plans fold at the time. Until
such a comprehensive
environmental impact assessment
has been carried out, UWA will
not even consider the
matter.
ROYAL DAISY
AIRLINES EXPANDS
NETWORK
The latest
information from this privately
owned carrier is that Goma and
Bukavo can now be reached by
scheduled flights from Entebbe in
addition to the present
destinations like Arua, Yei and
Juba. The airline uses an Embraer
130 for its domestic and regional
flights and plans are underway to
add more aircraft to cope with
the expanding network.
MINISTRY
OF TOURISM BEGINS
CLASSIFICATION
Following the
joint development of
classification and grading
criteria under the auspices of
the East African Community,
Uganda has now began to embark on
the classification phase for the
hotel and hospitality sector
across the country, starting with
the Entebbe &endash; Kampala
&endash; Jinja corridor before
moving into upcountry
locations.
The exercise
has been made easier through the
PAMSU (World Bank Protected Areas
and Sustainable Use programme)
initiative some time earlier,
which funded a cataloguing of
available facilities across the
country.
Once the new
tourism bill has been presented
to the new parliament,
regulations are expected to be
enacted swiftly thereafter by the
Ministry, based upon which the
grading will then also go
underway. This will be a more
controversial phase as presently
Uganda has two true 5star
properties, the Kampala Sheraton
Hotel and the soon to be opened
Kampala Serena Hotel, whereas
various hotel owners allocated
themselves 5 stars, something
often criticized by both users as
well as industry analysts as
completely off
reality.
PRESIDENT
MUSEVENI SWORN IN
12.55
p.m. on May 12th concluded the
recent elections in Uganda with
the formal swearing in for
another 5 years term of office of
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
His inauguration was witnessed by
11 Heads of State and Government
from across Africa and a large
crowd of supporters and onlookers
inspite the rainy conditions.
Yellow, the colour of the NRM,
was in overwhelming evidence and
even umbrellas were showing the
nation's favourite colour of the
day.
Also on the
12th May the term of office of
the members of the 7th Parliament
also expired, as did the term for
mayors and other elected
officials, and cabinet was also
dissolved effective 11 a.m. that
day.
Uganda is now
awaiting the inaugural session of
the 8th Parliament with the
election of the speaker and the
deputies. Formation of the new
government is expected to follow
soon thereafter, once parliament
has vetted the names submitted by
the President for inclusion in
his next government line
up.
PRECISION
AIR BAGS AWARD
The 2005/6
Airline of the Year award in
Tanzania was recently handed over
to the Precision Air's top
management in Dar es Salaam,
after the Tanzania Tourist Board
announced the winner during the
recently concluded Africa Travel
Association annual general
assembly in Accra / Ghana. The
airline has been outpacing its
competition, namely Air Tanzania,
the nominal national carrier, in
all areas of performance,
including passenger growth,
network growth and acquisition of
new aircraft. The airline
presently connects an extensive
domestic network, including
flights to the key national parks
and Zanzibar, but also to Kenya
(Nairobi and Mombasa), Malawi
(Blantyre and Lilongwe) and
UAE/Dubai. Flights to
Entebbe/Uganda will commence from
July this year onwards (as
mentioned in last week's column)
followed by Mozambique and the
Comoros later in the
year.
Precision Air
is a sister company to Kenya
Airways, which holds a 49 percent
stake in the airline, and has
recently as only the 5th African
airline been certified for
e-ticketing, before embarking on
a IATA Safety Operations Audit
later in the year.
APOKA
LODGE DUE TO OPEN NEXT MONTH
The
latest addition of Semliki
Safaris / The Uganda Safari
Company to their circuit of
upmarket properties will be the
new Apoka Safari Lodge in Kidepo
National Park in June. The
company already operates the Emin
Pasha Hotel in the fashionable
Nakasero area of Kampala, the
Semliki Safari Lodge in the
Semliki Game Reserve, formerly
Toro Game Reserve, and is also
developing a new concession
awarded to them to build an eco
friendly high class lodge near
Nkuringo / Bwindi National Park.
The company also recently
acquired their own light aircraft
to fly their safari guests around
the country without having to
spend their precious time on the
road, maximizing the safari
experience in the parks. Find
more details at
www.safariuganda.com
KENYA
WILDLIFE SERVICE HIKES PARK
FEES
A
hefty doubling of park entrance
fees for Kenyans and foreign
residents will come into effect
by mid 2006 after KWS published
their latest tariffs. Citizens
will from then onwards pay 200
Kenya Shillings while residents
other than citizens will have to
fork out 1.000 Kenya Shillings
per person per day. Foreign
visitors must dig 10 US Dollars
deeper into their pockets as
their fees rise from 30 to 40 US
Dollars per person per day. Kenya
has been enjoying a boom over the
past 1 ? years after an EU
support programme invested some
20+ Million Euros into promoting
Kenya as a
destination.
UGANDA
TOURIST BOARD REBRANDS
Only months after taking the
helm of the national tourist
board as Chairman Mr. Roni
Madhvani recently introduced
major changes to the image of the
organization. Now re-named
'Tourism Uganda' the
organization's new identity is to
project a fresh image and more
determined efforts to penetrate
new and emerging markets and
re-establish Uganda as a leading
ecotourism destination in its
present core markets, i.e. the
European Union and North America.
In addition to the traditional
wildlife safaris, bird watching
and mountaineering, rafting and
related river activities have
established themselves as
extensive niches now becoming
mainstream activities. There are
now also more visitors coming to
explore the extensive and often
nearly untouched forests to seek
out rare orchids and butterflies
while cultural tours to the
kingdoms of Buganda, Tooro,
Busoga and Bunyoro are beginning
to take root. See the revamped
website of Tourism Uganda at
www.visituganda.com
USAGA
CELEBRATES WORLD TOUR GUIDE
DAY
The Uganda
Safari Guide Association
organized bird watching and also
a guided walk across the city's
cultural monuments last weekend
in recognition of the global tour
guide day, which is normally
celebrated in February. USAGA is
a member of the Uganda Tourism
Association and has been
instrumental in the recent past
to help develop a new guide
training curriculum, examination
standards for guides and have
offered specialized guide
training for bird and cultural
guides to improve the quality of
guiding services across the
tourism sector. Together with the
Uganda Community Tourism
Association they also trained
guides for many of the local
sites across the country, where
resident guides explain to
visitors the significance of the
location and the age old
traditions and believes of the
inhabitants of the
area.
The school and
pre-school children who
participated in the bird watching
event, one as young as 5 years
old, managed to identify 125
species of birds within the space
of 3 hours, of course with the
help of their experienced senior
bird guides, who are making
conscious efforts to draw in
schools into the activity. In
comparison, this correspondent
who lives on the shores of Lake
Victoria has marked some 138
species in and from his garden
over the past 14 years, so not a
mean achievement for the
youngsters. All participating
children were then given
binoculars as presents and the
category winners earned extra
prizes for their efforts in
spotting the most birds and
making a drawing of a bird of
their choice.
CRUDE OIL
DRIVEN PRICE INCREASES HIT
HOME
Following
persistently high fuel cost on
the international oil markets the
cost of petrol, diesel and
kerosene has once again risen to
new all time highs. Mobile phone
company MTN, which recently
celebrated reaching 1 Million
subscribers after 8 years of
operations, has also raised phone
tariffs. This is due to their
base stations now being cut off
electricity for 24 hr cycles and
relying on generators to keep
them operating. However, visitors
to the country have a cushion
effect as the value of the Uganda
Shilling has in recent weeks also
been gradually declining,
probably reflecting the growing
inflationary pressure.
KAMPALA
CITY COUNCIL ORDERS HOTEL
BUILDING STOP
The latest
venture of the locally owned
Imperial Hotels Group seems to
have run into problems with the
city council, which ordered all
building activity stopped.
Allegedly no environmental impact
assessment has been undertaken
for the site and lodged with NEMA
&endash; National Environmental
Management Authority nor were
allegedly any soil samples
submitted to determine the
strength and size of the
foundations. There are also
apparently unresolved issues over
un-approved architectural plans
and persistent complaints from
city residents about encroaching
on the road reserve which is a
mandatory requirement, while the
construction in this case reaches
the pedestrian pavement. The
hotel development is located
between the Kampala Sheraton
Hotel and the Kampala Serena
Hotel and upon completion
supposed to add much needed rooms
for the Commonwealth Summit in
Kampala due in late 2007. Watch
this column as news
develop.
'ANCIENT'
CROC PUT TO SLEEP
A 52 year old
Nile crocodile, which has been at
the Uganda Wildlife Education
Centre, formerly the Entebbe Zoo,
has finally been put to sleep,
after an operation in mid 2005
and ongoing veterinary attention
failed to improve its health.
The animal was
brought to the Animal Orphanage,
as it was known in 1957, and was
estimated to have been 3-4 years
old at the time, and has ever
since been at the Entebbe
facility.
Average age
for a Nile crocodile is said to
be around 45 years in the wild
although some of the reptiles are
estimated to have lived into
their 70's and beyond.
A dedicated
reptile enclosure was built in
the late 90's when UWEC underwent
its transformation to become one
of the most visited tourist sites
in the country.
REGIONAL
TOURISM EARNINGS
UP
For the first
quarter of 2006 Kenya's booming
tourism sector has recorded a
revenue increase to 14.7 Billion
Kenya Shillings, which
constitutes over 8 percent growth
compared to 2005. A sustained
publicity campaign by the Kenya
Tourist Board over the past 1 ?
years is now beginning to pay off
for the sector. Similar increases
are reported from Tanzania,
Uganda and Rwanda.
Overall, East
Africa has undergone a
substantial revival of its
tourism fortunes over the past 18
months, as anti travel advisories
are no longer taken as seriously
as was the case in the more
distant past due to misuse and
exaggeration of such
'advisories'. East African
tourist boards have also been
spending more money in marketing
and image building in key
consumer markets but also new and
emerging markets, while the
region's premier international
airline, Kenya Airways, has been
adding new wide bodied aircraft,
expanded the route network to
cover additional destinations and
increased capacity on their key
European, African and Middle East
/ East Asian routes. While
traffic routes through their
Nairobi hub, the entire region
has enormously benefited from
this development and the addition
of the new Paris route from June
onwards will bring even more
visitors to the entire
region.
ANNUAL
UGANDA RHINO STAMPEDE FOR 06TH
MAY
Rhino Fund
Uganda, City Tyres and OnCourse
Uganda are organizing Uganda's
third
KENYA
AIRWAYS RELAUNCHES
WEBSITE
A
state of the art new website has
been launched by the airline's
CEO Titus Naikuni last week. The
re-designed site will make
on-line booking easier, which by
now reportedly already constitute
up to 20 percent of the overall
ticket sales. Visit
www.kenya-airways.com to update
yourself on the new
development.
GOVERNMENT
MAKES CONCESSIONS ON POWER
CRISIS
Emergency
meetings with government have now
resulted in generating plants of
100 KV and above receiving tax
cuts on the diesel consumed.
Solar equipment will also get
support through accelerated
depreciation while the Private
Sector Foundation Uganda will
manage a grant scheme to further
subsidize such installations with
up to 50 percent of the cost. The
private sector stakeholders had
last week given government a well
near ultimatum over the sharply
risen cost of doing business and
the lack of electricity to
operate on a daily basis and
government responded, ahead of
the general election which took
place yesterday to appease
captains of
industry.
HOTEL
OWNERS THREATEN INCREASE IN ROOM
RATES
Lobby
group UHOA has now also woken up
to the power crisis but instead
of engaging in constructive
efforts through the Private
Sector Foundation and the Uganda
Tourism Association they rather
threatened to increase room rates
by a uniform US Dollars 10 to
compensate for the now near
constant use of in-house
generators. Besides the question
of this being cartel like action,
probably not thought of by them,
it has also been established by
this correspondent that few
hotels are likely to follow the
move in view of competitive
pressures while others will take
advantage of concessions already
made by government following the
constructive engagement through
the Private Sector Foundation,
the Uganda Tourism Association
and the Hotel and Catering
Association of
Uganda.
DESCENDENT
TRACES ANCESTORS
STEPS
Mr.
William Stanley, the great
great-grandson of world famous
Africa explorer Henry Morton
Stanley ('Dr. Livingstone I
presume') has visited Uganda and
traveled in the footsteps of his
ancestor. He climbed the
Mountains of the Moon and visited
other famous attractions across
Uganda. Find out more about this
visit in the next UTB newsletter
at
www.visituganda.com
RWENZORI
CENTENARY
CELEBRATIONS
In
June 1906 the Duke of Abruzzi,
Luigi Amedo of Savoy led a grand
expedition to reach the peaks of
the fabled Mountains of the Moon
for the first time. To
commemorate the historic event
preparations are underway now in
Uganda through the Ministry of
Tourism, the Tourist Board, the
Wildlife Authority and the Uganda
Tourism Association to celebrate
the Centenary of the first climb.
More details will be released in
coming weeks and information can
then also be found at the UTB
website and their news
releases.
GUIDE
TRAINING
INTENSIFIES
30
new and existing guides received
intensive training over the past
4 weeks in mountain search and
rescue, first aid relevant to
high altitude accidents as well
as guiding techniques and
information on the mountain
ecosystems. More bird guide and
cultural guide training is
scheduled during the course of
the year to improve guide quality
in Uganda to internationally high
standards.
UTB
LAUNCHES
NEWSLETTER
The
Uganda Tourist Board has now
launched its first edition of a
regular news update from Uganda,
headlined 'TOURISM UGANDA'. This
is the first visible measure of
change (more has happened behind
closed doors of course) since Mr.
Roni Madhvani has taken over as
Chairman of the Board of
Directors a few weeks
ago.
Subscribe
to it through utb@starcom.co.ug
or visit their website at
www.visituganda.com
SN
BRUSSELS TO SPONSOR COCKTAILS FOR
UGANDA AT ITB
The
management of SN Brussels
Airlines in Uganda has concluded
a deal with the Uganda Tourist
Board to sponsor the main
cocktail party at the Ugandan ITB
stand this year. SN Brussels has
under their new management in
Uganda intensified tourism trade
contacts to improve their market
penetration through key European
tour operators, who now
increasingly put Uganda back into
their brochures for safari
packages. With their cabin
refurbishment now also nearing
completion, SN will be offering a
complete flatbed business class
seat and improved catering in
both C and Y classes on their
Airbus A 330-200 on the Entebbe
route, further strengthening
their competitive edge on flights
to East Africa. SN connects some
58 European destinations with 14
African capitals, making it one
of the most intensive networks to
Africa from Europe. SN in Uganda
has also concluded a strategic
deal with Nile River Explorers
(www.raftafrica.com) for kayaking
enthusiasts, who come to the
upper Nile valley for their
annual winter training, taking
advantage of warm weather and
warm white water, rapids and
falls. SN will be flying kayaks
free of charge on their network
to Entebbe, subject to space, and
within weeks the offer has
already been taken up by dozens
of kayakers spending a holiday in
Jinja and measuring their
strength and skills against the
mighty River Nile.
ELECTION
DAY IS UPON US
President
Museveni held his last campaign
rally at Kampala's 'Kololo
Airstrip', surrounded by a sea of
humanity, most of them dressed in
the NRM party's yellow colours.
The city too seemed to have been
'painted' in yellow as
decorations went up all over to
signal support to the incumbent
president seeking a third term in
office.
The
African Union observer mission in
a pre-election press conference
also expressed their satisfaction
with the peaceful build up to
Election Day, on which little
trouble is expected, inspite of
isolated pre-election incidents.
In contrast some foreign election
observers have already cried foul
when apparently pre-prepared
statements were &endash; probably
accidentally &endash; released
early decrying election
malpractices when no vote had
even been cast at that time. NRM
has already secured a head start
by securing a number of
uncontested constituencies but
also the special interest group
votes for Workers Representatives
and People with Disabilities,
where opposition candidates were
soundly defeated. Results can be
found at www.newvision.co.ug or
www.monitor.co.ug for those
interested but will also be
published in next week's column
&endash; and once this column is
dispatched it is off to the
polling station.
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