The Uganda budget makes cultural safaris more costly

Many people especially tour operators expected the minister of Finance this time to read a budget that favors the tourism sector but on their surprise,more taxes were introduced in the sector.This according to the operators will affect the tourism industry as visitors will be discouraged by the increase in the cost of a Uganda safari including cultural safaris.

Lat week a budget for the next financial year was read to the public and 18% VAT on accommodation facilities where visitors stay was a newly introduced tax.Another tax which will affect the sector is the tax on the various sites including the cultural sites.These two taxes will affect the industry negatively because visitors intending to visit this East African country will be discouraged due to the increased costs.In fact a cultural visit to some of the major sites in Uganda is going to become more expensive to the visitors.The old itineraries you are used to are now going to be modified to include some element of tax.

Uganda is one of the leading tourism destinations in Africa and culture is one of the special attributes that have been attracting people from different parts of the word.However,there is fear that the number of visitors who visit this "pearl of Africa" annually will reduce as a result of the increased taxes.This is the reason why different tour operators have come out to ask the government to reduce these taxes.The government argues that its finding ways of raising more revenue forgetting that discouraging tourists from visiting the country will in a long run lead to a reduction in the revenue. Tourism industry in Uganda is the leading revenue-generating sector and by increasing taxes on the various sites and accommodation,income received from the visitors will reduce.

Apart from culture,visitors come to this country to participate in other adventurous activities like gorilla trekking,nature walks,game drives,hiking,bird watching,kayaking,chimpanzee tracking
,boat rides and many more