Ugandas tourism | Tourist zones | Equator Line project | Facilities/Infrastructure | Tourist characteristics | Map

Uganda’s tourism facilities/infrastructure

Hustle free travel to Uganda and the capability to serve and satisfy the exacting demands of visitors, is the surest way for Uganda to become a favourite destination and compete as a tourist destination.

Air Transport

The number of airlines and source countries is important to the extent that where a country has direct flights to Uganda that presents another potential source market. Entebbe International Airport is served by regular flights of the following Airlines:

	Air Burundi			Ethiopian
	Air France			Gulf Air
	Air Malawi			Inter Air
	Air Rwanda			Iran Air
	Air Tanzania			Kenya Airways
	Alliance Air			Sabena
	British Airways			Uganda Airlines
	Egypt Air

It is anticipated that Swiss Air and Air India will soon join the club. Missing out are Alitalia, Lufthansa, and American Airlines. However the gap left out by them can be easily filled by other airlines which currently serve major cities in Europe and Nairobi.

Air connections with neighboring countries

Tourists although currently showing Uganda as a single destination will increasingly be multi destination. Uganda will have to promote itself on the circuits of the entire region on package tours. Air and road communications between countries in the region is therefore vital. Fortunately all the countries surrounding Uganda are quite near in term of distance.

Arrivals by Road

The main Tourist or Visitors’ routes are:

Kampala - Nairobi
	served daily by over ten coaches
Kampala - Kigali
	served daily by about three coaches
Kampala - Northern Tanzania
	one coach and commuter mini buses
Mwanza in northern Tanzania Uganda
	steam ship twice a week

All the above distances, except the Mwanza boat ride, are covered in less than 12 hours.

Tourist Accommodation in Uganda

A survey carried out in 1992 found Uganda to be deficient in this area. The Feasibility Study for the country’s tourism sector revival went ahead to advise the Government against promoting tourism heavily before putting in place the matching infrastructure. The infrastructure was rated insufficient in many ways. Accommodation was insufficient in sheer numbers, especially in the tourist areas, but also in the level of maintenance and the quality of service delivery.

It is now several years hence and still the infrastructure for tourism is inadequate. This was one of the factors that led to low bed/room occupancy rates and was also indicated as a key constraint to tourism development. In simple terms the message was simple: "You cannot bring in demanding visitors when you do not have the level of service, let alone quality accommodation to suit their tastes".

Occupancy rates

According to the Tourism Master Plan, the estimated occupancy rate is on average 20% for the country and 35% for upcountry, with Mweya Safari Lodge averaging at 40% occupancy. Currently Kampala Sheraton Hotel's occupancy is about 51% , while others in Kampala are at a range of 40-45%. It is true that some hotels are full occasionally and this happens mostly on weekends and public holidays. However, during the weekdays, the occupancy is very low, indicating that the custom clearly depends on local residents, mainly expatriate rather than the holiday tourists.

Look at the Equator Line project for more information.