As Uganda prepares to get its first oil in June 2026, a report by Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO), ‘Those oil liars! They destroyed my business!”: Tourism stakeholders’ views of Uganda’s oil sector’ has highlighted that 13.5 per cent of the tourism stakeholders identified oil and gas as a threat to their livelihoods.
The report notes that oil and gas exploitation in Uganda, as well as the burning of fossil fuels, can lead to biodiversity destruction, climate change, and the development of roads in protected areas.
Uganda’s government, however, insists that it has been responsible in the exploitation of the oil and gas resources, and that the economy is expected to expand when commercial sales of oil start. Some tourism players beg to differ.
The community-based research was conducted because tourism remains one of Uganda’s most important economic activities, significantly earning the country the highest service foreign exchange earnings, while employing hundreds of thousands of people.
“In 2024, for instance, tourism earned Uganda Shs 4.8 trillion ($1.28 billion), contributing 3.2 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The sector also employed more than 803,000 people, contributing approximately 7.2 per cent of total employment,” the report highlights.
At least 66 tourism sector stakeholders from Uganda, including tour operators, tour guides, travel agents, drivers, hotel workers, as well as food and beverage service providers, participated in the research. The research assessed the attitudes to conservation that tourism sector stakeholders have.
At least 98.1 per cent of the respondents consider biodiversity conservation as critical to their livelihoods, while 1.9 per cent consider it moderately important.
“It is worth noting that while only 13.5 per cent of tourism stakeholders identified oil and gas as a threat to their livelihoods, oil and gas exploitation in Uganda, as well as the burning of fossil fuels, can lead to or lead to biodiversity destruction, climate change, and the development of roads in protected areas. This means that the sector and its attendant impacts account for 61.3 per cent of the key risks to tourism” the report highlights.
Additionally, the report notes that micro and small tourism businesses in oil host districts such as Buliisa and Kyotera that participated in the research reported little to no benefit from oil investments, but rather observed that the industry had caused them challenges such as forcing them to deviate from tourism to seeking to supply the oil and gas sector with little returns.
They also pointed to population influx resulting in increased competition and commodity prices, as well as increased animal-human conflicts, among other challenges that they face.
Dickens Kamugisha, the executive director of AFIEGO, while commenting about the findings from the report, said: “The community-based research that AFIEGO conducted was important because tourism sector stakeholders from the national to community level need to be heard. One of the things that they unequivocally said is that ‘tourism depends on intact ecosystems, which must be protected from oil risks.’”
“Some of the research participants recommended that protected areas should be established as no-go zones for oil drilling. They also want the government to better fund the tourism sector, while reducing taxes. Government and oil companies should listen to the tourism sector stakeholders and act on their recommendations,” he adds.
