United Arab Emirates rejoins United Nations World Tourism Organisation

Posted on May 13, 2013 by admin

UNWTO secretary general, Taleb Rifai, has announced the United Arab Emirates has rejoined the organisation 26 years after leaving.

“The Middle East is one of the fastest growing tourism regions in the world in spite of facing countless challenges; much of this dynamism has been led by the strong political commitment awarded to tourism in the region and the vision that tourism is a key pillar of development in the Middle East of which the UAE is a perfect example,” said Rifai.

“The UAE play a central role not only in the development of tourism in the region but also in linking the Middle East with other regions and we expect that by working together we will enhance tourism within and to the Emirates as well as increase regional cooperation,” he added.

The UAE and UNWTO will work on several initiatives including the measurement of the economic impact of tourism, statistics and human resources development.

The Middle East is one of the fastest growing tourism regions in the world.

Between 1980 and 2010, international tourist arrivals in the Middle East rose from 7.1 million to 60.9 million, an average annual increase of 7.4 per cent compared with a world average of 4.2 per cent.

According to UNWTO’s long-term forecast, Tourism Towards 2030, this growth is set to continue; in 2030 arrivals to the Middle East are expected to reach 149 million, an average annual increase of 4.6 per cent compared with a world average of 3.3 per cent.

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UWA LAUNCHES ANTI POACHING UNIT IN MURCHISON FALLS PARK

Posted on May 13, 2013 by admin

UWA- Uganda Wildlife Authority has recently launched the Semanya Marine Ranger Station on the banks of the River Nile, from where regular anti poaching patrols are now operating to monitor in particular the open access across Lake Albert into the Murchison Falls National Park.

The station was built and equipped through financial contributions from a number of conservation supporters but in particular it was the effort of the Uganda Conservation Foundation which has been working hand in hand with UWA to fight the poaching menace. Leading Ugandan corp-orates  like the Sheraton Kampala Hotel, Nile Breweries and Sadolin Paints, among others, equally gave donations as did the Murchison Falls International Fishing Tournament, an annual event with proceeds going to conservation causes.

Nearly two dozen rangers are now based at the station and currently operate with one boat, though additional equipment is reportedly being procured to make the outstation even more effective.

Already on day one of operations were several poachers caught, reportedly posing as innocent fishermen but found with snares and other poachers tools, leading to their immediate arrest and now awaiting prosecution.

The Nile delta, where the Victoria Nile enters Lake Albert, is a maze of little islands and swamps, rich in game and as such a tempting site for poachers, who can access the national park side of the lake across the open waters with little opposition from rangers, until now that is.

Poaching has moved from subsistence level to take a more commercial outlook in recent years, as in particular elephant have been targeted in Uganda, though plains game is much sought after too to fuel a growing bush meat trade. However, as UWA emerged from the turmoil inflicted on the organization by the rash actions of the self-styled Minister of Crocodiles and his choice chairman of the board, both of them thankfully no longer in office, has the focus on anti poaching gained momentum once again. Thanks to the Uganda Conservation Foundation and all the donors to this immensely valuable and important addition to the Murchison Falls NP infrastructure.

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South African Airways charges $999 from New York to Nairobi

Posted on May 13, 2013 by admin

South African Airways (SAA) has extended its fare sale for flights to Africa, with sale fares to seven cities on the continent now available for purchase through May 16.

The Super Sale for flights from New York to Kenya continues, with fares starting as low as $999. Fares start as low as $1,160 for travel from New York JFK or Washington, DC (Dulles), to Johannesburg, South Africa. Fares to Cape Town start at $1,190. The fare sale is available for purchase now through May 16, 2013 for flights departing by May 31.

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Mgahinga’s Nyakagezi gorilla group gets a bouncing baby

Posted on May 7, 2013 by admin

Information received from Mgahinga National park today is the arrival of new born baby in Nyakagezi gorilla family.

The birth of a bouncing baby gorilla has  increased the group population to ten.

Gorilla permits for Nyakagezi gorilla family in Mgahinga park can be bought from UWA office in Kisoro on arrival. They go for 400USD only.

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BITUKURA GORILLA FAMILY EMBRACES A NEW BORN

Posted on May 7, 2013 by admin

Bitukura gorilla family is filled with joy following the birth of a new member by an Adult Female Ruhara .

The group size is surely regaining after defections were witnessed for the better part of last year. Rukara silverback, who joined Kyaguliro group last year, has not yet returned.

Curious infants and juveniles of the group were seen struggling to feel the new infant who was tightly guarded and monitored by the dominant SB Ndahura. The mother for the better part of the day dedicates her time to breast feeding and grooming the infant. Despite the rainy season pounding all the sectors of the park, Ruhija’s Bitukura group has since looked bright and definitely in high spirits.  The family lead by towering Ndahura SB has been seen happily going about their usual daily rigors with no worries.

The family generally looks happy, closer despite the loss of three members who defected to other gorilla families in the due course of the year. ADF Betina has her wounds healing after the famous fight she was engrossed in when a wild family had an incursion with the family and come to a brink of snatching her.

Nduguyangu Jimmy, one of the trackers who located the newly born infant contends that the family often nests at Bugarama where Ndahura has lately established his home range. The lead silverback in a quest to assert his superiority over the family he heads nests near females but within the closer vicinity of infants and juveniles. The area however is a range zone for the elephants mostly during the night hours.

On another note however, Bitukura tourist guests were given a free display when the young Obia BB decided to engage Ndahura in a slop sided duel. For some reason, composed Ndahura SB was quietly feeding from some vine plants away from the main pack. I guess he needed some privacy because he was not so keen to join his subordinates at the feeding arena. It seems though the young charitable Obia had other ideas for the day.

He was seen bent on disturbing the old man’s peace by constantly pulling away the vines the dominant SB was keen to feeding on. The visibly irritated Ndahura tried to keep his cool till his patience came to a near snap. He tried to signal his displeasure but the pleas landed on Obia’s deaf ears. In full view of the entire family surged forward in a fit of anger, he leapt and got hold of Obia, beat the living day lights out of him and sent him fleeing much to bewildered juniors. Obia was seen wimpering from the far side of the pack nursing the pseudo injuries sustained from the one minute beating.

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Dubai opens tourism office in South America | secure gorilla permits

Posted on May 4, 2013 by admin

Dubai opens tourism office in South America

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) is planning to open an office in Brazil in a bid to attract visitors from the growing South American tourism market.

The announcement was made at the World Travel Market Latin America in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Hilal Saeed Al Merri, director general of the DTCM and CEO of Dubai World Trade Centre, said: “Brazil is Dubai’s primary business partner in Latin America. So, in delivering our strategy to increase visitor numbers from the region, it was the natural location of choice for our first South American representative office.

“Trade between Brazil and the UAE is increasing exponentially and with the connectivity Emirates provides, there is significant potential to grow this market. By opening this office, we hope to double the number of visitors from Brazil from 40,000 in 2012 to 80,000 in 2014.” He added.

last year, Dubai welcomed approximately 40,000 visitors from Brazil.

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Serengeti wildebeest migration attracts Chinese tourists

Posted on May 4, 2013 by admin

Mr Shanzhong, the Vice-Chairman of the Chinese National Tourism Administration said that Serengeti National Park where several live coverage had been done since January this year, was now becoming famous among the Chinese people and expressed his country’s hope that the coverage would increase the number of Chinese visiting Tanzania as tourists in the near future. He said that the recent visit to Tanzania by the Chinese president has exposed the country in China and indicated that Tanzania’s uniqueness in natural attractions was a good advantage that needed to be capitalized.

In responding to the earlier request by the Tanzania delegation on training and capacity building areas in the tourism sector, Mr Shanzhong said that National Tourism Administration of China together with their counterpart in Tanzania would prepare Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would be signed in the near future and which would specify areas of cooperation between the two countries.

During the meeting, Mr Shanzhong lobbied for the support of Tanzanian government in approving Chinese language becoming the official language in the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). An approval from more than half of the member countries is needed for a language to be approved as official language.

Tanzanian delegation led by the Director of Tourism, Mr Ibrahim Mussa, promised to support the Chinese move before the coming UNWTO General Assembly that will be held in Zambia and Zimbabwe in August this year.

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SB BUSINGYE GORILLA GROUP PERMITS TO BE SOLD AT UWA

Posted on May 3, 2013 by admin

Bwindi  Gorilla forest southern sector has undergone a lot of transformation since gorilla tourism effectively took root. Originally, the sector had got only Nshongi gorilla group which had the world’s largest mountain gorilla numbers in the family at its habituation. The group has since broken into three more families including Mishaya and Bweza.

The habituation of Kahungye however in the same sector has witnessed yet again another break away family established in the name of Busingye. Many gorilla tourists will find this welcome news as more permits will be available and thus tracking options. This latest secession has now brought the total family groups to a remarkable five all in one sector. The group is led by an ambitious Silver Back whose now legendary fights in the wild for adult females have earned him a privileged place in the circles of his peers.  Busingye last split from the mother family of Kahungye on 4th June 2012 while Bweza split from the mother Shongi group on 1st August 2012.

Research from BMCA monitoring team led by Research Warden Kato Raymond indicates no intentions of the break way groups to fuse back to their parent families in future. Interactions between the “mother” families with their breakaway factions have always been characterized by fierce battles mostly restricted to the dominant males guarding their turf. Each group has since whenever possibilities occur tried to avoid direct interactions with one another for fear of the potential loss of members from the resultant fight.

The strong Busingye silver back has however from time to time showed how capable he is to tilt the power balance in the south which has a crowded home range of its habituated gorillas that keep over lapping one another. Whenever he interacts with a wild family, he mercilessly grabs a female from that group for himself.

The Area Conservation Manager BMCA Mr. Pontious Ezuma contends that with these gorilla dynamics coming into play, UWA has got more space available for tourists who intend to do gorilla tracking in the southern sector. He advises that the visitors can now book this family because it is one of the versatile and exciting groups one can visit for a memorable time while in Bwindi’s Impenetrable park for gorilla tourism.

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Uganda Tour operators urged the government to construct more roads

Posted on May 2, 2013 by admin

The operators noted that Uganda’s tourism sector has the potential to grow two-fold but this potential is stifled by the failure to open up new tourism sites.

The existing roads to the tourism sites, the operators also noted had dilapidated overtime because they had outlived their lifespan; thereby, they need renovation.

“Traffic congestion and the poor roads also make business difficult and more costly. We would like to government embark on building more and wider roads,” reiterated Barbra Adoso, vice chairperson, association of Uganda Tour operators.

She made the comments on Friday during the tourism forum at Uganda museum in Kampala.

The forum was organized under theme, “Uganda has received a number of international accolades in the past few years, how has the country made use of these accolades to foster growth in the tourism sector”

The operators noted that Uganda despite having received a number of international Accolades in tourism, had not taken advantage of these awards to market the sector to the world.

They urged the government to partner with the private sector in a bid to market the country’s tourism potential to the world through advertisement, participating in global tourism fairs and improving relevant infrastructure.

“Accolades present promotional opportunity like branding. Let us identify specific things that other countries don’t have and market them as our unique tourism identity, “said Lyazi Vivian, the principal tourism officer and spokesperson of the ministry tourism, wildlife and antiquities.

Uganda earns $900m from tourism annually.

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Rwanda’s new concession policy to boost investments in tourism

Posted on May 2, 2013 by admin

Ms. Rica Rwigamba

Ms. Rica Rwigamba

Ms. Rica Rwigamba, who is head of department for Tourism and Conservation at the Rwanda Development Board, launched the information earlier this week, when she listed opportunities for lodges, hotels, restaurants and other tourism related projects as among those which will in the future be offered, through an open tender system, to widen the scope of tourism activities across the country.

Presently is RDB engaged in assessing their own options vis a vis concessions and are identifying locations where such concessions can be offered, in line with park management plans and under due consideration of environmental concerns, putting biodiversity and protection of fragile ecosystems first.

It is understood from a source in Kigali that the country’s Private Sector Federation and the tourism sector at large have broadly welcomed the move, as long as nature is put first as this is one of the country’s greatest assets.

Concessions will according to details availed run between 5 and 20 years and will be renewable, depending on the terms a concessionaire will have signed with RDB.

With the exception of two properties inside Akagera National Park are presently all other safari lodges and hotels in Rwanda located outside the parks, something some conservationists say is the preferred option, a case in point being the 5star rated Nyungwe Forest Lodge, which is located inside a tea plantation in the buffer zone around Nyungwe, but within a few metres from the edge of the ‘Enchanted Forest’.

canopy walk in nyungwe forest

Tourism is one of Rwanda’s most important economic sectors and last year again added double digit growth with revenues now standing over 280 million US Dollars, due to rise to over 300 million US Dollars in 2013.

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