Writing in today's Daily Monitor, opinion writer Brian Mukisa suggests Uganda can learn from a lot from Canada's recent launch of its "Keep Exploring" destination brand and the country's public/private partnership in tourism marketing and product development.  Brian argues that Uganda's "Gifted by Nature" brand has not been integrated into the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting (Chogm) and that an opportunity is being squandered to present a positive and consistent image of Uganda during the meeting.

The timing of Brian's piece is especially odd given that Tourism Uganda has recently walked away from the "Gifted by Nature" platform in favour of portraying itself as "Africa's friendliest country".



At least, I think that's what their new brand is all about.  Elsewhere, they describe the tourism experience as "an elegant adventure" and the Tourism Uganda logo sports a "You're Welcome" tagline.  Friendly and welcome seem to hang together, but the elegant claim seems to be muddying their brand image a bit.



Add in the continued use of "Gifted by Nature" on a national level and you've got what appears to be a fairly fragmented effort to create what Simon Anholt would call a cohesive Nation Brand.

Come to think of it though, with our Pork brand, Seafood brand, Tourism brand and other brand platforms, perhaps Canada has a bit of work left to do itself.