Strategies For Effective Tapping, Development And Marketing Of A Tourist Destination: A Case Study Of Uganda

The purpose of this study was to examine the performance situation of tourist destinations of developing countries in order to formulate for them strategies for effective tapping, development and marketing of tourism.  The study was prompted by the fact that most destinations’ performance was far below expectation. Its objective was to examine the socio-economic performance of tourist destinations.  Uganda was chosen as a case study. Purposively selected primary data sources were Uganda’s Ministry of Tourism, Association of Uganda Tour Operators, Uganda Tourism Board, The Uganda Association of Travel Agents, airlines, travel agents and tour operators, hoteliers and tourist site operators, and tourists. Data were collected from these respondents using questionnaires. Results indicate that the performance of Uganda as a tourist destination is (36.4%) still low. Accordingly, strategies to improve the tapping, development and marketing are proposed. If adopted by policy makers and implementers, the strategies are expected to improve the industry’s performance by 73.3%.