Uganda increases tourist visa fees from USD50 to USD100.
Under uncertainty at all Uganda Embassies and Consuls who are still showing the regular USD50.00 on their blogs and websites, the government of Uganda had abruptly changed their tourist visa from USD50 to USD100. in was suggested in Uganda’s National Budget, which was reviewed in July; the ministry of finance pointed out that this rise would boost national revenue and foreign currency, therefore benefiting the nation.
Uganda has thus followed Kenya, who have raised their visa costs to USD50 and are yet to ask all those interested in visiting Kenya to start applying by supplying all information online in order to examine who should be granted or refused visa. Rwanda is the one who launched online visa registration in East Africa and other nations; other countries are now copying her. Its is not clear if Uganda would also start requesting all individuals entering Uganda to make an online visa request.
Traveling industry stakeholders have voiced discontent and are surprised by this step as raising immigration costs would make Uganda a less desirable travel destination than others in East Africa. Introduction of VAT on all local hotels has instead made Uganda an extremely costly place since the dollar value moves daily.
The ministry of finance said it would boost tourist budget from the old 16 billion to 30 billion to support marketing, product development and infrastructure development in the next financial year, thereby counteracting this. Nowadays, visitors may apply for their visa at any Uganda Embassy or consul in their respective nations or acquire them upon arrival at Entebbe Airport by paying USD 100 to immigration.
Uganda boasts a lot of tourist attractions, including rale mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, golden monkeys, River nile, mountains of the moon, friendly people but it looks like poor government policies will always affect the development of tourism yet the government needs more tourists to come to Uganda in order to have more dollars coming in the economy. Should any modifications be made, we will notify you but for now that is how it is.
