President Museveni has asked investors and other private sector players in the country to capitalize more on tourism to reap from the wasted opportunities and spur Uganda’s socioeconomic development. 
In a message read by Vice President Ms Jessica Alupo at Kaunda Grounds in Gulu City during the national celebrations to mark International Museum Day on Thursday, Mr Museveni listed several tourism investment opportunities, especially in northern Uganda that were idle. 
The celebration to mark the International Museum Day for Uganda was held on Thursday in Gulu City at Kaunda Grounds under the theme; Museum our Heritage.  
The ceremony was attended by Tourism Minister Tom Butiime, and Northern Uganda Minister Grace Freedom Kwiyocwiny, among other dignitaries. 
“I call upon the private sector players to invest in the development of the untapped tourism resources in northern Uganda, especially Fort-Patiko and other historical sites such as Wadelai, Dufile, Lututuru, Palabek, among others,” he stated. 
According to Mr Museveni, Uganda stands alone as a beautiful country endowed with diverse natural and cultural heritage that requires critical investment input by the private sector players to maximally tap their potential.
 Whereas the government has now prioritized the development of supportive infrastructure such as modern road systems to catalyze investment and the development of such tourism sites, they remain largely abandoned. 
“In northern Uganda, there are several tourism sites such as Fort Patiko, Aruu Falls, Lututuru Falls, and Kabalega Mwanga sites which with rich ancient historical and archaeological information can be packaged for tourism development,” he said.

He added that “the development of tourism roads, the revival of the Uganda Airlines, and the promotion and showcasing of the potentials of museums will diversify Uganda’s tourism offering thus accelerating the national social economic progress.” 
I equally urge you to establish educational recreational services in all museums located in the entire region, this way, we shall make our country attractive not only to international tourists but domestic tourists, he added. 
In the statement, Museveni tasked leaders of the newly established cities of Lira, Gulu, Fort Portal, Arua and others, to develop leisure and sports facilities that can accommodate infrastructural development of museums to enable tourists to explore the country and showcase Uganda’s cultural values.

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Mr Butiime said his ministry aims to develop sustainable tourism, wildlife and culture to contribute to the socioeconomic transformation of the Ugandan societies from a peasant to a modern and prosperous one.
“The sector continues to be the leading foreign exchange earner contributing USD1.37Billion as well as Shs6.17Trillion to Uganda’s GDP and employing over 6 per cent of Uganda’s labour force, we intend to employ up to 10 per cent of Uganda’s labour force by 2025,” Mr Butiime said. 
In January 2023 Parliament passed the Museum and Monument Bill 2023 to consolidate and reform the legal framework concerning the conservation of natural and cultural heritage, classifying museums, and also collect together creative works of art. 
Ms Lilly Ajarova, the chief executive officer Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) said government plans to set up a modern museum and a wildlife conservation centre in Gulu City under a pilot initiative.
“Gulu City is going to build a museum and a wildlife education conservation satellite centre, the ministry of Tourism will offer all the support required to make the initiative a success, and we shall also support building the education centre,” Ms Ajarova said in her speech at the event.

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With the outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020, the tourism industry registered massive business losses characterized by private business shutdowns, cancellation of tourist bookings, closure of Protected Areas/National Parks and tourist sites with the resultant jobs and livelihood loss.
It caused a reduction in international tourist arrivals from 1,542,620 in 2019 to 473,296 in 2020, a loss of 458,743 jobs in the tourism industry in the year 2020, loss of foreign exchange earnings of up to $1.01 billion (Shs3.72 Trillion) in 2020.  
It also caused a decline in hotel room occupancy rates from 51.9% in 2019 to an average of 20% in 2020, a 23.3% loss of visitors to Uganda’s National Parks in FY 2019/20 compared to the FY 2018/19 and booking cancellations in over 90% of the hotel facilities. 
This resulted in a loss of revenue amounting to 320.8 million (Shs1.19 trillion) in addition to other business losses, according to the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities Ministerial Policy Statement FY 2021/22. 
Mr Butiime said the ministry is now strategizing on promoting domestic and inbound tourism, increasing the stock and quality of tourism infrastructure, developing, conserving and diversifying tourism products and services as well as enhancing regulation, coordination and management of the Tourism Development Program. 
In 2019 alone, the ministry says inbound visitors to Uganda had spent Shs4.58 trillion on tourism services, while domestic tourism spent approximately Shs2.97 trillion.

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