the Association of Uganda Tour Operators (AUTO) have come to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which they have signed for a cooperation aimed at boosting the sale of gorilla tracking permits annually in the country.
Looking at the details of this memorandum, UWA will provide a commission of one complimentary gorilla tracking permit for every 30 gorilla permits bought by tour operators and utilized by AUTO to Foreign Non-Resident (FNR) clients. This initiative shall replace the old sales commission of US$10 out of US$600 per permit, which was not very effective.
It was agreed that this complimentary gorilla permits will be declared at the end of each quarter, based on the sales performance of the previous quarter.
This signed MOU is valid for 3 years and takes effect from September 1, 2015. The major aim of this MOU is to promote and strengthen and recognize the effort put in by the Uganda tour operators to market the tourism potential of the Uganda as a destination more effectively in the international tourism markets.
The government believes that if the Tour operators are facilitated through the MOU, the cooperation will increase sales of gorilla permits, and promote gorilla tourism regionally and internationally at large
According to the AUTO Chairperson Barbara Adoso Van Helleputte, The income which will be generated from the permit sell shall be used for the association’s development programs in areas of training local tour operators marketing skills”
These funds come at a time when the tourism industry is making preparations for a strategic plan to strengthen its trade cooperation with the United Nations Development Program/Uganda Tourism Board (UNDP/UTB)-funded consultative process.
To travel oversees for tour operators to go marketing, they have to painfully incur on average US$4,000 to US$5,000 each in travel, visa, accommodation, exhibitor and travel insurance expenses per exhibition towards international exhibitions in Europe and Japan like WTM London, ITB Berlin, BIT Milan, FITUR Spain, and JATA Japan with no guarantees for a visa and business after the exhibition.
At the signing, UWA Exectutive Director Dr. Andrew Seguya stated that “the number of available permits currently stands at 104 per day, up from 18 in 2006 with 13 gorilla groups fully habituated for tourism in the Bwindi-Mgahinga Conservation Area.” He also called for better and more effective approaches to marketing.
He further guaranteed that, with an average sales of 90 permits per day, AUTO estimates projections shall hit the US$650,000 mark, greatly offsetting their budget while at the same time mutually benefiting UWA directly.