The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is collaborating with the nation’s Ministry of Tourism to introduce a new tourism marketing initiative aimed at boosting interest in Uganda tourism and improving conservation.
The Daily Monitor reports that the ‘Friend a Gorilla’ campaign is aimed at online tourism marketing, and invites internet users to track the movements of Uganda’s native mountain gorillas through online social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, in addition to other tourism related activities. By targeting its campaign towards popular social networking sites, the UWA states that it is hoping to benefit from “a shift from the use of brochures to modern technology in marketing the country’s tourism potential.”
The campaign was launched in a high profile event attended by international celebrities and Hollywood actors, including American Pie star Jason Biggs and Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Nicholas Brendon. The initiative is aimed at improving international tourism in the East Africa country, and is expected to raise more than $100 million towards implementing conservation enterprises to protect indigenous wildlife.
Serapio Rukundo, State Minister for Tourism, stated: “I wish to congratulate UWA for coming up with such an innovative strategy for fundraising and marketing Uganda as a gorilla tourism destination.
“The Ministry of Tourism is supportive of new and modern ways of marketing and our future strategy will be to provide funding for this.”
The Uganda Bureau of Statistics recently revealed that tourism was increasing at an impressive rate in the country compared to a slow build in the last two years, with figures indicating a 29.7 per cent growth in the most recent quarter.
