The Effects Of Destination Image On The Growth And Development Of The Tourism Industry In Uganda

As the tourism industry grows, so does the frequency of crises that affect it and the competition among the different tourist destinations for the market. Destinations have no other better way other than branding in order to beat the competition. With most tourist destination offering similar products and experience, the need to differentiate from those of their competition has never been greater and that's where destination branding comes in.As tourism products are intangible, the potential buyer has no way of knowing the quality of the product apart from images and perceptions formed from information provided by the destinations marketing campaigns. Therefore the promotional efforts of the destination must be good and provide all the necessary information to make the destination appealing to the potential visitor as it is from this information that perceptions, images and first impressions are formed.This paper analyses the past and present destination branding and rebranding efforts of Uganda and suggests solutions to help its industry fight the negative image still looming over the industry and hindering it from achieving its potentialData was collected through face to face interviews with key informants and questionnaires both online and on site administered, critical content analysis of literature and destination marketing documents. In-depth interviews and semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect data from respondents that were deliberately selected, basing on their knowledge of the subject matter and work-related activities in their work places. Also, official documents from the ministry of tourism were used in the study.Sampling was mainly non probability convenient sampling. Major results show that Uganda has undergone several unsuccessful rebranding efforts and keeps falling back to the first brand, the Pearl of Africa. Bad destination image, lack of funding, lack of stakeholder consultation and over dependency on traditional products and methods of marketing plus poor infrastructure development and low adoption of ICTS are the major challenges hindering the rebranding efforts of the industry and preventing the success of the destination marketing and rebranding efforts. Major recommendations include diversifying the tourism product, entry into new markets like Asia, more stakeholder consultation, more funding from the government and embracing of technology and modern methods of marketing.