The Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) has partnered with Asante Aviation to promote air travel as a catalyst for domestic tourism, highlighting the need to reduce transport barriers and expand Uganda’s tourism potential.
Ugandans Urged to Lead Tourism Growth
UTB CEO Juliana Kagwa called on Ugandans to embrace local tourism, emphasizing that countries like Kenya, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand all grew their tourism industries by first nurturing domestic travelers.
“No one tours Kenya like Kenyans. We need to create the same culture here,” Kagwa said.
The initiative also coincided with World Gorilla Day (Sept 24), World Rhino Day, and the run-up to World Tourism Day (Sept 27). During this period, Ugandans, East Africans, and foreign residents were granted discounted access to national parks from September 25 to 27.
Air Travel as a Game-Changer
Kagwa explained that increased domestic travel creates economies of scale, which in turn drive down aviation and tourism costs.
“The more people start to fly, the more investors bring aircraft and open aerodromes. As volumes rise, costs will naturally drop,” she said.
Asante Aviation’s Plan for Easier Access
Ronald Kasozi Lubega, CEO of Asante Aviation, criticized Uganda’s reliance on long road trips to access tourist sites. Unlike Kenya, where tourists fly directly to national parks, Uganda’s visitors often endure hours in traffic before reaching destinations.
Asante Aviation intends to change this. With two decades of pilot training expertise, Lubega announced plans to make multi-park tours possible in a single day.
“We can enable tourists to explore three national parks in just one day,” he revealed.
Tourism Revenues and Growth
Uganda’s tourism sector has shown strong recovery and growth:
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Tourism revenues in 2025 hit UGX 7.1 trillion, up from UGX 5.8 trillion earlier in the year.
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International arrivals surpassed 1.8 million, with 765,000 visitors recorded in the first half of 2025 alone.
These figures highlight the sector’s potential to significantly contribute to Uganda’s economy if infrastructure, especially domestic aviation, is scaled up.
Looking Ahead: Tourism and National Development
Uganda aims to grow tourism’s contribution to GDP to 10% by 2040, with domestic air travel at the center of this vision. As part of this year’s World Tourism Day celebrations in Arua, UTB and partners organized conferences, school programs, and cultural events to rally both local and international stakeholders.
