EMMANUEL OJOK 

ARUA:The Uganda Tourism Board embarked on a nationwide grading and classification exercise for accommodation facilities, which include hotels, lodges, guesthouses, motels, cottages, and villas, among others.

The grading and classification exercise will consider factors like location, size of the rooms, restaurants, interior décor, suites, security, and human resources, among others, leading to the facility being given a one-star, two-star, three-star, four-star, or five-star status.

The exercise will be conducted in phases to cover the entire country, with the first phase, which began on August 1, 2023, being conducted around Kampala, Entebbe, Jinja, Masaka, Mbarara, Fort Portal, and Mbale

The hotel owners and managers in Arua City are anxiously waiting to have their facilities classified by the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB).

The general manager Letsuba grand hotel Joe Angoli, says classification of hotels will be beneficial for both the clients and hotel managers. He says because Arua city is an upcoming town, it makes it difficult for Hotel owners to embrace hotel facilities similar to those in Kampala.

Richard Andama Ferua, the West Nile tourism ambassador says most hotels in the city do not meet the required standards to promote tourism.

He says there is demand for investors to build hotels that suit the tourism sector with Presidential suites and ministerial suites. 

He described the hotels in West Nile as eating places.

“Many of these big hotels you see don’t even qualify as third class. They have about 30 to 50 rooms, in other wards they are inadequate,” he said.