An official signing ceremony took place during this year’s Routes Africa to finalise arrangements for next year’s event. Later today representatives of the Civil Aviation Authority of Uganda and Entebbe International Airport are due to be presented the Routes trophy by Seychelles Minister of Tourism and Culture Alain St Ange, as hosts for next year’s event, which will likely take place at a location close to Kampala.
The team will have a tough job to follow the amazing event put on this year by the Seychelles Tourist Board and its partner the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority, but they have confirmed they are up to the challenge. Speaking exclusively to The HUB after signing the hosting agreement with Routes Executive Vice President, David Stroud, the Deputy Managing Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Uganda, David Kakuba Mpango, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been selected as host of Routes Africa in 2013 as there is no better way to push what the country has to offer than for people to come and see it for themselves. We will be opening the doors of Uganda to all Routes delegates and enabling them to enjoy first-hand the hospitality and wonders of the country.”
“We have been attending the Routes Africa and World Routes events for a number of years and were pleased to have been able to agree a new air service with Qatar Airways during the 2010 event in Vancouver in Canada, so we are fully aware of the important role these forums take place in the aviation industry,” he said.
Marketing itself as the ‘Pearl of Africa’, Uganda is a country with fantastic natural scenery and a rich mosaic of tribes and cultures. Travelling through Uganda delegates will be captivated by its beauty, overwhelmed by the friendliness of its people and intrigued by all that Uganda has to offer. The country lies astride the Equator in Eastern Africa and is bordered by the Republic of South Sudan to the North, the Republic of Kenya to the East, the Democratic Republic of Congo to the West, and the United Republic of Tanzania and the Republic of Rwanda to the South.
Ecologically, Uganda is where the East African savannah meets the West African jungle. In its uniquely lush pastures one can observe lions prowling the open plains in the morning and track chimpanzees through the rainforest undergrowth the same afternoon, then the next day navigate tropical channels teeming with hippos and crocodiles before setting off into the misty mountains to visit the majestic mountain gorillas. Uganda is the only safari destination whose range of forest primates is as impressive as its selection of plain antelopes. Besides the wide biodiversity, Uganda is also blessed with a vast bird population of more than 1,000 species.
Uganda was this year ranked by respected travel guide specialist Lonely Planet as the world’s most preferred tourism destination for the year 2012 and highlights the country as the place where Savannah meets the vast East African lakes and where snow-capped mountains bear down on sprawling jungles but also for its rich history with UNESCO world heritage sites including Nyero rock paintings, Kasubi tombs (currently being reconstructed after the 2010 inferno), Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the newly discovered home of early man in Karamoja.
Look out for our official press release tomorrow. More details on the event will be released over the coming months.
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