Tour operators, tourism exhibitors and stakeholders from Kenya recently met in Uganda for the inaugural five-day Uganda-Kenya Coast Tourism Conference, Exhibition and fam trip. The theme was ‘Strengthening Networks, Synergies, and Diversity to maximise the tourism potential between Uganda and the Kenya Coastal Region’.

“This conference is historic because it is the first-ever regional tourism conference and business-to-business engagement,” said Kenya Coast Tourism Association Chairman, Victor Shitakha.

“I therefore call upon the regional tourism stakeholders to seize the opportunity and work together in enhancing the regional tourism trade and investment. This conference provided the opportunity for a structured discourse towards developing Kenya Coast tourism and the Uganda circuit where foreign tourists to the region can visit both countries as part of the same itinerary.”

A total of 512 945 tourists visited Uganda in 2021, 64% of whom were from Kenya.

"We want to create synergies between the Uganda and Kenya Coast tourism players but also create more awareness about the two destinations and the tourism products they offer," Uganda’s Consul General to Mombasa, Ambassador Paul Mukumbya, added.

"With this familiarisation trip, we want to equip the tourism players from Uganda and the Kenya coastal region with first-hand experience of the key tourism attractions so that they are in a better position to market these attractions, and to promote and popularise the Entebbe-Mombasa route operated by the Uganda Airlines,” he concluded.