Tourism stakeholders have been encouraged to prioritize preserving the country's heritage coupled with redeveloping different tourist sites to woo more visitors to the country.

The stakeholders were also advised to professionalize all responsibilities ranging from tour guides, cabin crews, and security personnel among others to create more employment opportunities.  

This message was delivered by Godfrey Kiwanda, state minister for tourism during his induction at the headquarters of Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) in Kampala.

"We should re-think and reflect on ways of making our country more attractive through devising more means of developing the sector. This can only be possible through an all stakeholder engagement in the industry" Kiwanda said. His statement comes at a time Uganda is being advertised on NatGeo WILD, a worldwide channel for tourism and wildlife. To the staff of UWA, he said all of them will undergo specialized training in different fields for professionalism because they represent the face of Uganda. Kiwanda advised all tour companies to strive for a better image of the country through welcoming the tourists and guiding them well.

He said there is need to consolidate development of the tourism sector to increase the financial benefit accruing from the invisible trade.  Figures from Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) indicate that the annual revenue for tourism is at $1.4bn surpassing remittances from Ugandans in the diaspora that have since dropped to less than $1b. Dr. Andrew Seguya, executive director at UWA said the sector requires infrastructural support in form of constructing better roads leading to the tourist destinations. Seguya called on players to protect wildlife to sustain the sector in creating job opportunities to help bridge the unemployment gap. ref New Vision 01/08/2016