Legislators on the Committee of Trade and Tourism have expressed their opposition to a proposal from Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) advocating for an increase in the Tourism Development Programme budget to a minimum of Shs1 trillion annually over the next five years.
Members of Parliament (MPs), James Olobo (NRM, Kioga North County) and Eunice Apio (UPC, Oyam County North) instead urged the CSOs to intensify advocacy against corruption in the tourism sector, saying that funds are misused there.
The representatives from SEATINI and Jenga Africa appeared before the committee on Monday, 13 January 2025 to respond to the 2025/2026 National Budget Framework Paper.
“If Shs1 trillion is allocated to the tourism programme, will there be value for money? Have you done research on previous expenditures? If for example we need Shs700 billion for tourism, why would we go for Shs1 trillion?” Apio Eunice asked.
On his part, Olobo said that the proposed allocation of Shs175 billion in the 2025/2026 financial year towards the tourism programme is sufficient.
“The money we collect is enough; what you need to do, is research more on corruption,” said Olobo.
Jeff Wadulo, Jenga Africa’s team leader in his justification for increasing the tourism budget, said that tourism has a high return on investment.
“According to the World Bank, every US$1 spent by a foreign tourist generates an average of 2.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product, both directly and indirectly along the value chain,” he said.
He added that boosting the tourism budget will generate the necessary increase to the government’s target of US$50 billion for the programme by 2040 and also contribute to the 10-fold strategy of pushing Uganda’s Gross Domestic Product to US$500 by 2040.
“This money can be reallocated from various budget lines for workshops and seminars, national holidays and donations,” Wadulo said.
He also called for enhancement of the tourism marketing budget from Shs100 million to Shs500 million, annually.
“Despite Uganda being the Pearl of Africa and gifted by nature with a variety of tourist attractions, little is known of Uganda to larger parts of the world. Uganda’s tourism sector post-pandemic recovery is lagging behind that of our regional peers and competitors like Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda,” he said.
Sheema County South MP, Hon. Elijah Mushemeza welcomed the proposal to increase efforts to market Uganda’s tourism.
“I want to welcome your paper but you are preaching to the converted. Our challenge now is to convince the Executive. So, we may have a task to convince the Executive that the sector that has high investment returns is tourism and also coffee,” he said.
