With 700 buyers, 45 markets, and a destination on the rise, UTB was in Arusha to close deals and open doors
Uganda Tourism Board was not in Arusha to admire the view. Participating in the 9th edition of Karibu-KiliFair 2026, running June 4–7 at Magereza grounds in Arusha, Tanzania, UTB had arrived at one of East Africa’s most commercially significant tourism trade events with a clear business objective: convert regional visibility into tangible tourism revenue for Uganda.
The numbers at this year’s fair made the commercial case for showing up. Over 500 exhibitors from more than 15 countries. Seven hundred international and regional travel buyers representing 45 countries. Approximately 10,000 trade visitors moving through the grounds over four days. For any destination serious about growing its market share, this was not a fair to miss. It was a room full of decision-makers, and UTB had walked into it prepared.
Karibu-KiliFair operated at the intersection of tourism marketing and business development. Unlike consumer-facing travel expos, the fair was fundamentally a trade platform where tour operators negotiated packages, where travel agents sought new products to sell to their clients, and where destination marketing organisations made the business case for routing more bookings their way. Every conversation UTB held on that floor was, in effect, a sales conversation. Every partnership forged was a potential pipeline of arrivals.
“Karibu-Kili fair offered an important platform for engaging travel trade partners and showcasing the diversity of experiences that make Uganda a premier destination, and creating new opportunities for tourism growth and investment.”
said Dr. Gessa Simplicious, Head of Public Relations at UTB.
The mention of investment was deliberate. Uganda’s tourism sector was not only selling experiences to travellers, it was actively courting capital. Tourism infrastructure, hospitality development, conservation-linked business models, and community tourism enterprises all represented investment opportunities that UTB was increasingly putting in front of the right audiences. A trade fair with buyers from 45 countries was exactly the kind of room where those conversations began.
What strengthened UTB’s hand at this year’s fair was the coordination with the Uganda Consulate in Arusha. Diplomatic infrastructure, when aligned with commercial tourism promotion, multiplied the impact of both. The Consulate brought government-to-government credibility and access to networks that extended well beyond the tourism industry. Trade attachés, bilateral commerce frameworks, and investor relations channels that a destination marketing organisation could not easily replicate on its own.
Ambassador Anne Katusiime, the Ambassador and Consul General at the Arusha Consulate, made the economic logic of that alignment explicit.
“Our participation in Karibu-Kili fair reflected our commitment to promote Uganda and regional tourism cooperation that created new opportunities for travel, trade, and investment.”
She said. “Arusha remained a strategic hub for tourism in East Africa, and this fair offered an invaluable opportunity to connect with global buyers, industry leaders, and travellers that sought authentic African experiences.”
The business context around Uganda’s tourism ambitions was worth understanding. East Africa’s tourism market was competitive, with Kenya and Tanzania historically commanding the lion’s share of international arrivals and trade attention. Uganda, despite its exceptional product, mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, the Nile, a constellation of world-class national parks, had long punched below its weight in terms of market presence. That was changing, and the pace of change was accelerating.
UTB had been systematically working the international trade calendar. Africa’s Travel Indaba, IMEX Frankfurt, the Destination Uganda bus campaign in Canada, and the country’s positioning around AFCON 2027 were all part of a coordinated push to expand Uganda’s footprint in key source markets. Each platform served a different segment of the demand chain, and Karibu-KiliFair served the regional trade segment, arguably the most immediately convertible into bookings given the proximity of the East African market and the growing appetite for intra-regional travel.
The economics of regional tourism were compelling. East African travellers were an increasingly important segment for Uganda, shorter flight times, no visa friction for many nationalities, rising middle-class disposable incomes, and a growing culture of leisure travel within the region. Tour operators and travel agents based in Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, and beyond who left Karibu-KiliFair with Uganda as a live option in their product portfolio represented a direct revenue opportunity.
Uganda’s product offering also gave UTB a strong commercial pitch. Gorilla trekking permits, priced at $800 per person, represented one of the highest-yield tourism products in Africa, with demand regularly outpacing supply during peak seasons. Chimpanzee tracking, Nile adventure tourism, cultural tourism circuits, and Uganda’s emerging meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions sector all added depth to a portfolio that travel trade professionals could build profitable itineraries around.
For UTB, the measure of success at Karibu-KiliFair 2026 would not simply be how many brochures were distributed or how many people stopped at the Uganda stand. It would be how many buyer relationships were deepened, how many new trade partnerships were initiated, and how many operators left Arusha with Uganda firmly on their sales agenda. That was the business of tourism promotion and Uganda was in Arusha that week to do exactly that.
