Kagulu hill[/caption]
Uganda’s Busoga region has for a while now been trying to grow and promote its tourism potential. Hopefully its recent visitors could provide a positive push and encouragement towards developing tourism in the region.
Speaker Rebecca Kadaga, also the patron for Busoga Tourism Initiative and chairperson of the Busoga Parliament group toured various tourists sites in Busoga with a couple of Turkish investors last week. The group included: Erdal Aliska, the regional manager of PETOIL, Vakur Yilmazyigit, a foreign trade manager of Pref-Pre Engineering Camp site Bridging Company and the Turkish Ambassador to Uganda Sedef Yuvuzalp. Also part of the touring group was Uganda’s Ambassador to Turkey, Agara Olwa.
The Turkish investors visited Busoga’s tourist sites with the speaker of parliament to try and see if and how they could possibly develop them and Busoga’s tourism potential as part of tourism in Uganda.
Kadaga requested the investors to help revive tourism sites in Busoga region in various ways such as: setting up cable cars that both tourists and locals can us at the Kagulu hill. Kagulu hill is a famous tourist site in Busoga that tourist like to climb and explore.
She also encouraged the investors to set up modern accommodation facilities, eating places and market facilities at the tourist centres. She noted that a number of tourist sites could gain from such initiatives. Bishop James Hannington Memorial site in Kyando is one such site.
This comes at a crucial time as Busoga has been making campaigns to promote it tourism sites so that tourists on Uganda safaris can add those on their itineraries thus increasing tourist market for the region.
Some of the tourist site that the group visited include; Bukaleeba peninsular which has a forest reserve that covers about four villages, Kyando where Bishop Hannington was said to have been killed, and Kagulu hill, a famous historical site in the region. Kagulu hill has an altitude of about 3500 ft above sea level and tourists are often seen enjoying an invigorating climb up the hill. One site that should and always is on every Busoga tour itinerary is the Source of the Nile, which the group also visited. Busoga region has these and many more tourist attractions that can enrich the experiences of tourists on safaris in Uganda should include.
On tourist safety and infrastructure, Kadaga said that plans to connect electricity to all tourist sites were in the works and that infrastructure such as roads would soon be improved by government. According to Kadaga government is also planning to develop and make these tourist spots very attractive and marketable.
After visiting all the sites and listening to all the speeches and pleas of genuine concern for tourism in Uganda especially Busoga, Aliska, one of the investors expresses his intent to invest in Uganda because was impressed with the tourist sites and the conducive environment.
With the suspension of the Switzerland-Uganda partnership to promote tourism in Busoga, this could be these investors could provide the boost the region has been waiting for. Tourism in Uganda as whole could benefit from development of these tourist sites.
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