Tourism destination competitiveness and tourism performance: case study of Uganda’s tourism sub-sector

Abstract

This study investigated Uganda's tourist competitiveness and performance metrics by engaging 200 stakeholders that included officials from the Uganda Wildlife Authority, Uganda Tourism Board, Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife, and Antiquities. The researcher utilized Krejcie and Morgan Table (1970); in this, a sample of 132 respondents received an electronic questionnaire, and SPSS 16.0 facilitated statistical analysis to interpret the gathered data. The findings revealed 37.19% of the respondents ranked sustainable environmental measures as a lower priority, while 35.18% advocated for funding infrastructure and distinctive tourism attractions. Key factors impacting tourism performance included political stability (69.35%), transportation quality (63.32%), cultural heritage (63.32%), effective marketing (47.74%), and government policies (42.21%). The study findings emphasize the value of political stability, cultural heritage, and transportation quality as highly influential factors for Tourism performance. The study recommends increasing government budget for marketing and promotion to attract more foreign visitors; prioritizing sustainable practices for biodiversity preservation; developing rural infrastructure for improved accessibility fostering public-private sector collaboration; elevating service quality through training and simplifying visa requirements to stimulate a tourist influx and sustain Uganda's tourism sector. However, the study’s reliance on a questionnaire-based data collection might limit the depth of insights into deeper aspects of tourism dynamics, which calls for further research into this area.