UGANDA: Tour Operator Arrested After Failing Or Refusing To Refund Money To A Dutch Tourist

A tour operator in Kabale town has been arrested on fraud charges after he allegedly failed to refund $27,000 erroneously sent to his account by a Dutch tourist for a gorilla trekking trip.

Mr Didan Atukunda from Mamba Gorilla Safari was arrested on Saturday in Kabale town in Western Uganda by Tourism police led by the Kigezi regional commandant, ASP Emmanuel Tinka.

Ms Sandra Natukunda, the senior public relations officer, Uganda Tourism Board said Mr Peter Nickilin from the Netherlands erroneously paid $30,000 instead of $3,000 for a trip to trek Gorillas in October last year but Mr Atukunda declined to make the $27,000 refund; forcing the tourist to contact the Uganda Tourism Board.

Prior attempts by UTB to discuss and agree to a payment plan between Mr Atukunda and the tourist proved futile after he refunded only $12,000 leading to the involvement of Tourism Police in a crackdown for Mr Atukunda's arrest.

UTB has been struggling with a challenge of tourism crime as the country eyes more earnings from the sector.

However, Ms Natukunda says the tourism board through its quality assurance department is taking strong interventions to curb crime in the sector.

According to the UTB, Quality Assurance Manager Mr Samora Semakula, UTB has set up a tourism security committee consisting of Tourism Police, MTWA and representation from the Association of Uganda Tour Operators with the let aim of tactfully handling fraud and any cases reported by tourists.

Tourism is Uganda's number one foreign exchange earner. We can not continue to let rogue operators destabilise the growth that we are seeing in the sector.

Most importantly we want tourists to enjoy their stay in Uganda. Our role is to ensure quality standards are met in the sector, Mr Semakula said.

Atukunda is the second suspected rogue tour operator to be arrested since this year started.

In a separate operation, Tourism Police and UTB arrested Mr Mugerwa Ahebwa who allegedly defrauded American tourists of over $18,000. He is currently detained at Jinja Road police station awaiting to be arraigned in court.

In November last year, over 23 people booked tickets to fly outside Uganda but later realised their tickets were all fake when they got to the airport.

There was a similar case of a Jinja-based travel agent who booked but did not issue tickets to a US family worth $6000.

The tourism industry currently contributes 10 per cent to gross domestic product, making it Uganda’s leading foreign exchange earner.

The industry contributes more than $1.4b annually and is projected to earn about $2.7b by 2020, according to figures from Uganda Tourism Board.


Tourism Observer

UGANDA: Hospitality And Tour Operators Reject Cosmetic Statistics Created And Fabricated By Tourism Officials

A war of words erupted at the release of the annual Tourism Sector Performance Report for the Financial Year 2015/2016, as operators claimed that the Tourism ministry had been too generous in its views of the sector.

During the AUTO (Association of Uganda Tour Operators) post-Sector Review Forum at Hotel Africana, several tourism sector actors where irked that they had not been consulted to give their views before a final report was made.

The report indicated a 47. 6% room occupancy rate and a 46. 2% bed occupancy rate. However, the percentages were disputed. Some tourism players noted that occupancy rates, especially in the game parks are between 13% and 17%.

Also disputed were reports of a 23% increase in tour operator business in the year 2015/16, an estimation that implied that tour operators enjoyed a growth in sales.

Babra Vanhelleputte, AUTO Board Chairperson said there were several gaps in the report and the AUTO members concurred with her. she said: “The percentages given in the report are questionable. There is a mismatch in the kind of information that is being disseminated and the reality on the ground. The ministry should provide a description of how this percentage was arrived at," Vanhelleputte said speaking about the figures about the growth in business.

"On behalf of private sector and AUTO, we would like to dismiss this report. It is a pity that the final copy of the report was put out before the private sector was given an opportunity to air put their views," Vanhelleputte said.

Vanhelleputte requested for an explanation from UTB on the performance and actual plan for more fair engagements for tour operators with Uganda's PR firms.

"I applaud H.E. President Yoweri Museveni for his directive to scrap Value Added Tax (VAT) on Tourism, and tasked the leaders of Uganda's tourism (the tourism public sector) to follow through the directive and confirm that it is actually implemented in the budget reading for the next financial year," she added.

Civy Tumusiime, managing Director of Pakuba Safari Lodge and an AUTO Committee member says the Ministry needs to be assessment instead of painting a wrong picture.

"Inaccurate statistics paint a wrong image. Statistics from the ministry indicate that business is good and yet in reality, it is not true," Tumusiime said.

She added: "This is affecting our funding. We spend more on expenses rather than the dividends we get since there are a number of economic hardships within the country."

Tumusiime called for regulation with the tourism sector, a separate regulatory authority and market Uganda's tourism especially in other natural endowments rather than concentrating on only Gorillas.

Like many other private sector players, Byamugisha reiterated the need for the sector to present statistics that aren't merely made up. She said: "Of the hotels gross monthly revenue, 47% of the gross revenue pays licences, salaries and taxes. It is no wonder that hotels are closing since business is low. This is in addition to employing over 8 workers rather than the 4 that the report states."

"When I saw and heard the statistics, I wanted to shout but refrained from it so as to keep my job. How can we say that Kampala is operating at 47%? This is not what is on ground and yet the data contained in a document is so authoritative. This is absolutely nuts! My goodness, this is not true," stated, Jean Byamugisha, the executive director, Uganda Hotel Owners Association (UHOA).

Alex Asiimwe, the principal policy analyst in the Tourism ministry, said they the ministry should not entirely be blamed since private sector players are sometimes uncooperative in disseminating information.

"Where do you want us to get the statistics from if you dismiss is or give us wrong information? Asiimwe asked?

Stephen Asiimwe, Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) CEO called for statistical man power especially at the borders and within the ministry

"Tourism is a passion. You do not need to polities it. Instead we need to aim at developing it," Asiimwe said.

The tour operators and the tourism ministry resolved to create a statistics collection committee to collect and disseminate accurate tourism data. The meeting also agreed to have a joint marketing committee for tourism with representation from the private sector.

UGANDA: AUTO To Sell Gorilla Permits, UWA To Do Wildlife Conservation

UWA executive director Andrew Seguya (R) exchanges the signed MoU with Ms Barbara Vanhelleputte, the chairperson Association of Uganda Tour Operators in Kampala last week.

The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has outsourced the selling of gorilla tracking permits to the Association of Uganda Tour Operators (AUTO) in a move meant to increase sales.

Speaking at the launch of the partnership last week, UWA executive director Andrew Seguya said the move will enable UWA concentrate on its conservation mandate to ensure that the gorillas are available while AUTO does the marketing of the product so as to boost gorilla tracking as a tourism product.

Under the new arrangement, which has already taken effect, AUTO will be getting a commission of $600 (about Shs2.2m )for every 30 permits the association sells. This will strengthen the association’s capacity to market Uganda’s tourism potential by organising exhibitions and tourism promotion events.

“For every 30 tickets that AUTO sells as group, we shall offer them a complimentary permit for a non-resident foreign client and we shall be declaring them every quarter on top of the $10 that we give them currently for every permit they sell,” Dr Seguya said.

He added: “We have picked interest in conservation and AUTO is our biggest partner in selling the permits. We want to raise conservation and ensure the park is free of encroachment and other threats.”

AUTO chairperson Barbara Vanhelleputte welcomed the partnership following discussions which have taken some time coupled with the positive media coverage of Uganda as a tourism destination. This has increased the number of tourists coming from Britain, Germany, Netherlands and Europe which are the major tourism source markets.

“We hope this will boost the promotion of Uganda as a tourism destination,” she said.

The gorilla brand
The Mountain Gorillas, with a current population of more than 440, is Uganda’s tourism flag brand. UWA currently has 104 permits available daily to track 13 gorilla families which have been habituated but are under threat because of encroachment on their habitat.

The authority hopes that the new partnership will raise income for UWA, AUTO and the host communities to promote conservation.