UGANDA: Tourism Board CEO urges religious leaders to incorporate tourism in their evangelization role
By Jacinta W. Odongo
The Chief Executive Officer of the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), Asiimwe has urged religious leaders of all denominations to incorporate tourism in their evangelization role to promote domestic tourism in the country.
and their representatives during
the Consultative Breakfast Meeting
“I believe that for us to change the attitude of Ugandans towards domestic tourism we must involve leaders including our religious leaders to incorporate tourism in their evangelism role. Religious leaders play a big role in influencing many people especially in decision-making. Besides, churches and mosques among others places of worship have big constituencies thus we want to partner with them,” he said.
He made the appeal during the Consultative Breakfast Meeting on Promoting Domestic Tourism in Uganda that was held on Tuesday, December 13 in Kampala. The meeting, which was organized by the Global Leadership summit in collaboration with UTB, was held under the theme, “Creating the Uganda We Want in the Tourism Sector.” It attracted religious leaders and representatives from seven denominations including Catholic, Anglican, Muslim, Seventh Day Adventist, Born Again and Pentecostal.
Asiimwe also appealed to the religious institutions to constantly hold conferences across the country as religious tourism has proved to be essential in growing the economy through steering up both domestic tourism and increased arrivals.
“Religious tourism is good as the country experiences big numbers of people visiting. People coming from around the globe do come into the country and some of these people later visit some of the tourism sites of their choice. Through these religious functions domestic tourism is also promoted as people across the country do come and converge on a particular city and boost economic activity since people engage in various trades,” he said.
He cited the example of the annual celebration of the Uganda Martyrs Day which is usually held on June 3. He said that in a recent survey that was conducted around the continent, the Uganda Martyrs Day celebration was ranked as the only annual event in the continent that attracts over 2 million people from across in the globe.
“If we look at the Uganda Martyrs Day celebration organized by the Catholic and Anglican churches, millions of people from within and outside the country come to take part in this big event. During Pope Francis’ visit magnitudes of people came and hotels were fully booked and as a result tourism was promoted and this is the reason why we encourage religious tourism.”
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