Members of parliament on the Tourism, Trade and Industry committee of parliament have pleaded to government to consider reviving a National Airline carrier to boast tourism and marketing the country. MPs on the committee chaired by Kyegegwa district woman MP Flavia Kabahenda demanded for the national carrier while meeting the minister of Tourism Maria Mutagamba who was appearing before this committee over her ministry’s budget for the financial year 2016/17.
MPs who include Dokolo county Mp Felix Okot Ogong, Bulisa county MP Stephen Mukitale and Flavia Kabahenda considered this move after they realized that tourists visiting the country have dropped by 23%. They said that the drop could have been due to lack of a national airline carrier since tourists fear to be subjected to heavy road traffic while going to areas of tourist destination because the in-flights are too expensive for them.
However, the minister of Tourism Maria Mutagamba said that her ministry engaged the president and accepted the process of reviving the National Airline and directed the minister in charge of works and transport to kick start the process by taking a cabinet paper to cabinet for approval.