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International broadcaster CNN named Uganda a “must-visit” travel destination for 2023, but government efforts to promote tourism have been hampered by poor data. UN Global Pulse’s Kampala office is providing technical support to Uganda’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology and National Guidance and others who are developing a data exchange program that could offer timely and accurate tourism statistics. Increased tourism could create jobs, bring in valuable foreign exchange and advance transformation to a service economy. If successful, such a platform could be used in other sectors.

Our impact

We started by analyzing government data sets on international tourism arrivals and mobile phone data to help us better understand both international and domestic tourism patterns. We are gradually adding more data sets. This will help the Ugandan ministry, Global Pulse, the UN Development Programme and others address privacy, data standardization incentives, legal clearances and other data governance issues. Our work should raise awareness, build trust, and develop strategies to enable responsible data sharing for tourism and offer a blueprint for other sectors.