Uganda has been crowned this year’s Grand prix and two times gold award by the International Tourism Film Festival Africa (ITFF) for its film, Explore Uganda- The Pearl of Africa.
The event which was held in Cape Town, South Africa saw Uganda’s short film win a Gold award as the International tourism destination country plus a tourism Africa destination award and the Grand prix tourism Africa award.
The film, premiered by the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) is an invitation to the world to rediscover Uganda’s beauty.
It is part of Uganda’s refreshed brand identity which seeks to increase arrivals in the destination as the global travel and tourism industry recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. The International Tourism Film Festival (ITFF) Africa awards are part of the world’s leading film festivals and the only one in Africa.
The awards seek to honour exceptional and innovative video content related to the tourism and travel industry, accessible on all continents and can be seen and used on various platforms. Other ITFF circuits include the New York film festival in the USA, Cannes film festival in France, Terres travel festival in Spain and Amorgos tourism film festival in Greece.
Moments after receiving the awards in Cape Town, Lilly Ajarova, the UTB Chief Executive Officer expressed gratitude, saying it is a great motivation for Uganda’s tourism sector.
“We shall leverage the recognition to maintain high standards for ourselves in terms of sustainability, quality and experience,” Ajarova expressed. The new brand is underpinned by a call to action, for travellers to discover the true essence of what Uganda has to offer to the world.
Martin Muggara, the minister of state for tourism thanked the jury among all the stakeholders who found Uganda worthy of the awards. “As a country, we welcome all of you to explore the Pearl of Africa as we continuously make it easy for tourists across the globe to visit Uganda,” said minister Muggara. In attendance also was Kintu Nyago, Uganda’s acting High Commissioner to South Africa, Rosemary Kobutagi, the commissioner tourism development among others.
Marcos Hugo, the general secretary of the international committee of tourism film festivals said the Explore Uganda destination video was one of the most rated films in the competition. “It highlighted the uniqueness, authenticity and variety of Uganda’s beauty which inspired the jury and the film viewers to visit Uganda now,” noted Hugo.
UTB’s Explore Uganda destination film was produced by LoukOut films and directed by TBWA Uganda.
Source: Nam News Network