ANKARA, TÜRKIYE

Ankara, Türkiye – The Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), the government agency mandated to promote and market Uganda’s tourism industry, carried out a benchmarking study on October 28, 2025, to learn from Türkiye’s experiences and successful tourism development and marketing initiatives.

Türkiye’s tourism industry is advanced and ranked among the most preferred tourist destinations in the world, with over 60 million visitors received in 2024. The country is renowned for its diverse tourism offerings, effective destination branding and developed tourism infrastructure.

From 13 to 15 October 2025, the delegation led by Mr. Vivian Lyazi, UTB Board Member and Commissioner for Tourism at the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, engaged in fruitful discussions with key institutions including Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA), Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB), Turkish Airlines and other industry players.

Türkiye is among Uganda’s top ten potential overseas markets for inbound tourism. At the bilateral level, an agreement was signed in 2016 to foster cooperation in the field of tourism in areas such as investment, marketing and promotion, classification and quality control of accommodation facilities, research and development, rural and cultural tourism, among others.

The experiences shared and lessons learnt from the benchmarking study will contribute to strengthening Uganda’s destination branding and international positioning, enhance UTB’s digital marketing and tourism infrastructure, develop sustainable and cultural tourism products, foster public private partnerships and attract investments in the sector.

The visit facilitated by the Uganda Embassy in Ankara builds on the excellent bilateral ties and strives to develop tourism relations between the two countries.