KAMPALA — Uganda set to benefit from a major United States (US) Travel Agents Association after the event held on 13th and 14th of September in Chicago to increase tourist numbers into the country.
The Association for the Promotion of Tourism to Africa (APTA) forum is the world’s largest meeting platform for travel agents.
The forum brought together approximately 200 travel agents who are committed to selling destinations in Africa especially Uganda safari and Kenya.
Participation in the forum helped to position the country as a top of mind destination to the US trade selling Africa and thus provide Uganda and East Africa with a competitive advantage over other African destinations.
The US market continues to top as Uganda tourist source market recording a 9.391 % growth in the 2019 half year (Jan.-June) compared to the same period last year.
The market reported huge increase in the arrivals up compared to previous years, according to new figures by Uganda Civil Aviation Authority and Uganda Tourism Board.
The direct flights to East Africa are expected to have more impact on tourist arrivals from these markets.
Travel agents are unified by their specialty in selling Africa and can significantly influence the consumers’ choice of holiday destination as most consumers considering holidays book their travel through an agent.
The travel agents drive of business to Uganda hence it is critical that they understand the unique selling propositions of Uganda so that they can sell the destination confidently.
Uganda Tourism Board will be focusing on increasing the number of APTA members selling Uganda.
It will offer a great opportunity for agents to learn new ways of promoting the destination so that they are well informed to recommend and sell more Uganda holidays to their clients.
The agents will sell more Uganda holidays once they are trained on the destination’s unique selling points
