Come for the Football, Stay for the Gorillas — Uganda’s WTM 2026 Strategy
Uganda’s tourism team, led by State Minister Hon. Susan Nakawuki at WTM London, is doing more than showcasing the Pearl of Africa. As Francis Nyende reports from ExCeL, the goal is distribution: getting Uganda onto international itineraries — with AFCON 2027 as the accelerant.
The global travel trade does not make decisions in Kampala. It makes them in London, at ExCeL. That is precisely why Uganda is here.
From 3 to 5 November 2026, the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) delegation, led by the State Minister for Tourism, Hon. Susan Nakawuki, is occupying floor space at World Travel Market (WTM) — the world’s premier travel trade exhibition, which in 2025 drew 46,500 attendees from 182 countries and hosted more than 40,000 pre-booked business meetings. We are not here to admire the displays. We are here to negotiate them.
The Gap Between Beauty and Booking
Uganda’s tourism proposition is not a question of quality. The Pearl of Africa offers mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, wildlife safaris in Queen Elizabeth and Murchison Falls, the source of the Nile in Jinja, the Rwenzori Mountains, and cultures that stretch back millennia.
Yet tourism is an increasingly competitive global industry. Having exceptional attractions is one thing; ensuring those attractions are visible, accessible, commercially packaged, and — crucially — included in international travel itineraries is another. The problem for many emerging destinations is not a lack of wonder. It is a lack of distribution.
This year’s WTM participation is therefore a deliberate market development intervention. Our objective is to engage the people who influence travel decisions — international tour operators, travel buyers, airlines, investors, and media — and to connect Ugandan tourism businesses to the international distribution networks that convert interest into bookings. It is about building the relationships that translate destination marketing into actual business.
Sustaining the UK Playbook
The presence at WTM does not happen in isolation. It is the capstone of a broader UK strategy that began with destination marketing roadshows in Glasgow, Manchester, and Birmingham earlier this month. In Glasgow alone, UTB secured more than 60 trade meetings, bringing together 23 travel trade representatives from Scotland and 12 Ugandan tour operators for a five-hour engagement that went beyond presentations to include product tastings and face-to-face negotiations with buyers who sell holidays to Scottish travellers.
One UK travel agent, who told us Uganda had not previously been on their travel plans, pledged to visit the country next year. That kind of conversion is exactly what sustained engagement is designed to achieve. The roadshows generate interest; WTM is where that interest is followed by trade engagement, partnerships, and opportunities for conversion.
The AFCON Accelerator
This year, however, there is another critical dimension to Uganda’s message at WTM: the Africa Cup of Nations 2027.
Following our landmark partnership with the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Uganda is using the global appeal of football to expand its tourism proposition. The message is simple and direct: come for the football, stay to explore Uganda.
AFCON 2027 will bring millions of fans, broadcasters, and media personnel to the country. Our ambition is to ensure that the attention generated by the tournament creates lasting value beyond the 32 matches. This means working with airlines, tour operators, hospitality businesses, investors, and destination partners to develop products and itineraries that encourage longer stays, higher visitor expenditure, and repeat visits.
The strategy is already being deployed in the UK market. The Uganda High Commission in London has partnered with the 2026 Africa Nations Cup UK tournament — a showcase featuring 15 competing African nations and drawing together the continent’s diaspora communities across the UK — to embed the “Explore Uganda” tourism campaign directly into the matches.
“When the Uganda Cranes take to the pitch here in London, we are also showcasing our mountain gorillas in Bwindi, the source of the Nile in Jinja, the breathtaking landscapes of Murchison Falls, and the warmth of our people,” said Uganda’s High Commissioner to the UK, H.E. Nimisha Madhvani. “Every goal scored is an invitation to visit Uganda.”
Sport, as she noted, is one of Uganda’s most powerful storytelling platforms.
The Numbers Behind the Narrative
The strategic imperative for this level of overseas investment in marketing is clear from the data. In 2025, Uganda welcomed 1,642,215 international visitors — a 19.7% increase over 2024 and 106% of the country’s pre-pandemic 2019 level. Tourism receipts reached a record UGX 5.829 trillion (approximately US$1.62 billion), up 21.3% year on year, accounting for 16% of Uganda’s export revenues.
The momentum continued into the first half of 2026, when 739,815 international visitors arrived between January and June, and revenue surged 25.6% to UGX 2.3 trillion. The average length of stay in 2025 was 8.8 nights — a figure that underscores the potential for higher-yield, longer-duration products if the right itineraries are in place.
Tourism directly supports 876,512 jobs in Uganda. It is not a luxury sector. It is a jobs sector, an export earnings sector, and a rural development sector.
What Comes Next
UTB’s responsibility is to ensure that Destination Uganda remains competitive, relevant, and visible in the markets that matter — and WTM London gives us the opportunity to do exactly that.
We are not simply telling the world that Uganda is beautiful. We are building the commercial relationships and the market confidence necessary to turn that beauty into sustainable tourism business.
The ambition is bigger than participation. It is about positioning Uganda. It is about winning business. And ultimately, it is about creating lasting economic value through tourism — for the people of Uganda, the businesses that serve visitors, and the communities that benefit when the Pearl of Africa remains firmly in the global itinerary.
Francis Nyende, MBA, is Marketing Manager at the Uganda Tourism Board, where he leads destination marketing for the Explore Uganda: The Pearl of Africa brand. He spent more than a decade in East African FMCG, most recently as Lead Innovations Manager at Diageo (Uganda Breweries Limited), and earlier as Brand Manager at Nile Breweries Limited under AB InBev. He holds an MBA from the East and Southern Africa Management Institute.
