Uganda Breaks Away from the Safari Narrative With New Tourism Marketing

For years, selling Uganda as a destination meant leaning on the region’s most predictable features — the iconic mountain gorilla and the Big Five animals. The East African nation’s diverse communities, modern cities, and remote community tourism experiences remained eclipsed to all but the intrepid explorer.

That narrative has now shifted. In a visible departure from the status quo, Uganda Tourism Board’s new marketing campaign showcases a country with features few outside visitors might expect, and serves as a sign of what’s to come out of African destinations in a post-pandemic competitive tourism industry.

Viewers might glimpse a chimpanzee, a giraffe or a cheetah on the chase, but these make up a tiny part of the footage, otherwise dominated by scenes of Ugandans enjoying a range of outdoor adventures, cultural and urban activities in their own country. 

The new message is to not just visit Uganda’s sights, but to stay longer and explore its diverse corners beyond the gorillas and the Big 5. 

There’s a group river rafting, a lone female hiker on a gorilla forest hike, friends sharing a plate of matooke or mashed green bananas, and nightlife scenes in Kampala that contrast against tribe visits and Millennials partying by a riverfront infinity pool at a luxury lodge. As the clip wraps up, two women are in awe while on a game drive, while a road tripping couple pull over and hug over sunset.

All the depictions are of locals enjoying their modern, multi-faceted African destination while inviting outside visitors to “come see what is uniquely ours.”

The campaign, released less than a week ago, was launched alongside a rebranding of the destination to “Explore Uganda, The Pearl of Africa.”

“That tourism brand is the result of a very intensive study which took place for a period of time,” said Tom Butime, Uganda�