The Uganda Tourism Board has launched an enforcement campaign to shut down all unregistered and unlicensed hotel facilities across the country.
With approximately 70% of hotel facilities nationwide operating without proper licenses and failing to meet the requisite standards, unlicensed hotels have been given a strict ultimatum of 48 hours to comply with registration requirements or face immediate closure.
Amidst this crackdown, concerns have been raised about hotel managers’ lack of awareness regarding the required physical and operational standards, prompting calls from industry stakeholders for the UTB to prioritize the sector.
“We want travelers who come to enjoy. One of the aspects we have always been lacking in is health and hygiene. Therefore, our duty as UTB is to ensure the standards are not below the minimum and we can only do this when we inspect these facilities. It is not a UTB thing but international requirement for these facilities to have standards. We are not targeting anyone at all but as long as they are operating tour facility you must get a licence,” Bradford Ochieng, the UTB deputy CEO said on Saturday.
He mentioned that with over 4000 facilities in accommodation around the country, not more than 200 are licenced because they don’t meet the required standards.
“Many of these don’t get licences because of ignorance while in other cases it is complacency. Some say the fees are high and use it as a scapegoat for not coming forward to get licenced but we have been educating them on the benefits of meeting minimum standards and being licenced. At the end of the day, if your facility is compliant and it is on our website, you are getting free marketing. It helps you not to labour to explain to anyone,” Ochieng said.