Pakwach District, Uganda: The Ministry of Education and Sports, in partnership with Enabel, has launched a three-day strategic tourism workshop aimed at unlocking youth employment and accelerating sector growth in the West Nile sub-region.
The workshop, which commenced on February 24, 2026 at Nyipir & Labongo Hotel in Pakwach, has brought together tourism officers, cultural institution representatives and private sector stakeholders to chart a roadmap for sustainable tourism development.
Strategically located opposite Murchison Falls National Park, the meeting focuses on positioning West Nile as a competitive tourism hub capable of generating sustainable jobs for young people.
Participants are drafting a comprehensive profile of untapped and emerging tourism sites across West Nile districts. The document will outline site development strategies centred on sustainable practices, infrastructure enhancement and job creation in hospitality, tour guiding, cultural tourism and eco-tourism ventures.
Discussions also cover destination branding to position West Nile within Uganda’s “Pearl of Africa” identity, investment attraction to mobilise private capital, and marketing approaches to boost visibility and visitor inflows.
The Alur Kingdom is represented by Hon. Juliet Umika Oromcan, Minister of Tourism and Hospitality in the Kingdom and Supervisor of Pakuba Airfield under the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA).
Tourism Recovery and Economic Impact
Enabel Uganda, the Belgian development agency facilitating the workshop, is collaborating with the Ministry of Education on national skilling initiatives and institutional capacity building in tourism and hospitality.
Uganda’s tourism sector continues to show strong recovery. In 2024, the industry recorded international tourism receipts of approximately USD 1.28 billion — a 25.9% increase from USD 1.025 billion in 2023 — contributing about 6.6% to national GDP and supporting over 800,000 direct jobs, representing roughly 7.2% of total employment.
Stakeholders say West Nile’s proximity to Murchison Falls National Park — a premier wildlife destination known for game drives, Nile cruises and biodiversity experiences — presents immense opportunity for community-based tourism, cultural heritage promotion and inclusive youth employment.
The outcomes of the workshop are expected to inform targeted interventions aligned with national strategies to boost tourism’s contribution to GDP, foreign exchange earnings and job creation.
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