When Juliana Kagwa took over as CEO of the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) in May 2025, the big question was: what would she do differently?
We’ve had strong leaders before; Stephen Asiimwe gave Uganda a voice in the global tourism space.
He was a journalist at heart and used storytelling to put “The Pearl of Africa” back on the map.
Then came Lilly Ajarova, who took things further. With her conservation background, she diversified our tourism products, adding culture, adventure, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) and polished our brand under the award-winning “Explore Uganda” campaign.
Now, Juliana steps in. Her edge? A sharp corporate and marketing background. And she’s wasting no time!
Already, she’s pushing public-private partnerships, digital connectivity in parks, and product innovation. These aren’t just nice-to-have moves. They’re signals to investors.
Why this shift matters
Tourism isn’t just about attracting visitors anymore. It’s about attracting the people who build the hotels, run the tour companies, create the digital platforms, and invest in cultural centres. In short, it’s about investor inflows.
Juliana’s private-sector discipline gives confidence that she understands the investor’s bottom line: is there demand, and will it grow? If she can turn visibility into numbers, more tourists, longer stays, and bigger spend, then the investment will follow.
So where are the opportunities?
Here’s the short list:
MICE Infrastructure: Hotels with big conference capacity, convention centres, and logistics. Eco-lodges and boutique resorts, especially in underserved regions like Karamoja or Busoga.
Digital platforms: Booking apps, tour guides, payment systems, and WiFi solutions in national parks.
Cultural and experiential tourism: Restaurants, heritage trails, music, and food experiences.
Each of these areas is ripe for capital, and Juliana’s UTB is making the space more bankable than ever.
The bigger picture
Uganda’s beauty has never been in doubt. The real question is: how do we turn that beauty into bankable opportunities?
Asiimwe gave us visibility, Ajarova built our brand, and now Juliana has the chance to bring in the investors who can scale it all.
If she succeeds, we won’t just be celebrating tourist arrivals, we’ll be celebrating tourism as a serious pillar of investment and economic transformation.
Editor’s Note
Opinion by Joseph Kanyamunyu, MD of Publics Africa Communications and Publisher of Publicist East Africa. With two decades of experience in strategic communications, he works at the intersection of brand visibility, government relations, and investment inflows.