Dubai having positioned itself as a relatively cheaper destination, especially if one books through the state carrier Emirates Airline and their ‘Dubai Experience’, thousands of dollars that would have benefited Uganda’s tourism market are still finding their way out of the country.
“The Dubai Experience allows visitors travelling on the airline to customise their own experience and choose from hundreds of on-ground activities in Dubai. The list continues to grow as more attractions are added,” the Emirates country manager, John Gemin, told The Observer.
“They can also choose hotels that fit their budget and taste, so that they can explore this world-class destination in their own special way.”
Last October, The Observer travelled to Queen Elizabeth national park for three nights at a high-end safari lodge, game drives and meals inclusive, all for $1,400 (Shs 5,040,000) per person, at special, discounted Ugandan rates with a local tour company.
The same price would take two people to Dubai and back, inclusive three nights at Le Meridien Airport hotel, when The Observer mock-booked with Emirates’ Dubai Experience. The airline flies five times a week out of Entebbe.
But Jean Byamugisha, the Uganda Hotel Owners Association executive director, believes comparing Dubai tourism to Ugandan tourism is unfair, seeing as the former is a tax-free country.
“There are 26 different types of taxes for one to operate a hotel in Uganda!” Byamugisha told The Observer.
A hotelier in Uganda needs a general license to operate, as well as separate taxes to run a bar, swimming pool, restaurant, etc, costs that inevitably have to be borne by the clients.
Dubai, on the other hand, charges tourists a 20 per cent tax when checking into a hotel, and five per cent VAT, but everything else is tax-exempt, making it a cheaper destination to invest, visit, shop and explore.
“We have written to ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development about these taxes until we were blue in the face, but they insist they need the revenue,” she said.
Byamugisha also said the fact that there are 142 five-star hotels in the same city of Dubai competing for clients, it cannot be compared to Uganda where five-star hotels can be counted on one hand.
Many of the high-end safari lodges offer a special Ugandan rate for local tourists – currently $110 per night – but that is still on the high side for the average Ugandan. Byamugisha said that rate is deliberate because hotels are targeting clients that will not vandalise rooms, carry away plates, slippers and towels, as a certain class of Ugandan tourists reportedly do when they book into hotels.
“Many hoteliers will tell you, ‘my rooms would rather remain empty, because the damage to the room, stolen amenities, etc, is not worth the low prices’,” Byamugisha said.
“One hotelier took in a group at Shs 120,000 per Ugandan guest and they depleted the WiFi in a week because they were streaming; they brought out their boom boxes to play loud music at the poolside in a national park, which made other clients uncomfortable and then threatened management when their breakfast did not include sausages and bacon. These people cannot do these things in Dubai or Mauritius.”
She acknowledged that the Dubai Shopping Experience and activities also give the desert emirate an edge over Uganda, not forgetting that for the average Ugandan, the plane ride in itself is a tourism experience.
“I do admit our lodges are a bit overpriced because they are built using loans at 23 to 28 per cent interest rate, compared to developed economies where loans are at four to five per cent interest,” she said.
For now, the biggest domestic clients Uganda hotels bank on are government entities, who, according to Byamugisha, notoriously take years to settle their bills, crippling the industry further.
A matriarch who travels with her family to Dubai every year for holiday, but requested anonymity to speak freely, said she spends on average $1,000 per person for tickets and five days’ accommodation in Dubai, but has never considered spending the same on domestic tourism.
“When we travel to Dubai, we see different places, go shopping, rest and many other things we believe a trip inside Uganda cannot give us, yet I understand it is also expensive,” she said.
She said they spend Shs 400,000 per person on accommodation. The chairperson of Uganda Tourism Board, Daudi Migereko, said UTB is engaging Ugandans that travel out of the country for tourism.
“We are talking to them. After Covid-19, Ugandans are taking interest in the parks, Namugongo Martyrs Shrine…the scope of facilities is growing every day,” Migereko said in an interview.
He said while government is responsible for addressing the high taxes and interest rates for the sector, Uganda is still very competitive in the region and aims to be the destination of first choice.
Uganda received 1.98 million passengers through Entebbe International Airport in 2019, according to Civil Aviation Authority, compared to Dubai International Airport’s 46 million passengers.
Yet, even with that paltry figure, tourism earned Uganda $ 1.6bn that year in foreign exchange, and industry players want government to prioritise tourism and take advantage of Uganda’s growing holiday culture.
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