Students from 16 universities and colleges gathered in Kampala for a conference urging Uganda’s next generation of tourism professionals to treat artificial intelligence as a career essential, not an afterthought.
Over 500 tourism students from 16 universities and tertiary institutions converged at Makerere University Business School (MUBS) on 18th September for the World Tourism Day Students’ Conference, held under the theme “Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence: Preparing Future Tourism Professionals for an Intelligent and Innovative Industry,” as part of the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities’ month-long build-up to World Tourism Day.
Opening the conference, MUBS Principal Prof. Moses Muhwezi urged universities across the country to introduce artificial intelligence content into every course they offer, not only technology-focused programmes, warning that a person who cannot use AI within the next five years risks being counted among the functionally uneducated. He challenged students to look beyond basic computer literacy, which he noted is already mandatory in most undergraduate curricula, toward genuine AI fluency and encouraged them to use the internet on their phones to develop and market innovative tourism business ideas of their own.
Dr Celestine Katongole, Head of the Tourism Department at MUBS, told delegates that Africa accounts for the largest share of travellers worldwide who use the internet to plan their next destination, placing digital fluency at the centre of the modern tourism profession rather than at its margins. He pointed to a widening gap between the competencies tourism employers now require, digital literacy, AI awareness, data analytics and technological adaptability and the skills many graduates currently leave university with, a gap the conference was explicitly designed to help close.
Judith Ashelynne Mubiru, Chief Executive Officer of Jaan Solution Uganda Limited, presented on the future of the tourism profession, telling students that employers now weigh skills and competence far more heavily than academic transcripts in hiring decisions. She urged tourism students to immerse themselves in the communities surrounding key attractions, so that they can speak to visitors with genuine, first-hand knowledge rather than textbook familiarity.
Lyn Tukei, Communications Manager at the Capital Markets Authority, offered a complementary caution: however far AI advances, emotional intelligence remains the one skill it cannot replicate and students who sharpen it will remain indispensable to the industry regardless of how far automation spreads.
The conference drew participation from Makerere University, MUBS, Uganda Hotel and Tourism Training College, Uganda Wildlife Research and Training College, Kyambogo University, Ndejje University, Uganda Christian University, Islamic University in Uganda, and several other universities and colleges from across the country, alongside representatives of the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities. The day’s programme combined technical sessions with a personal-branding masterclass, a digital tourism entrepreneurship panel and an inter-university student quiz, closing with the award of certificates to participating students.
For the Ministry, the conference represents a deliberate investment in the sector’s supply side: a workforce entering the tourism industry already fluent in the digital tools reshaping it. As Uganda’s tourism numbers continue to climb and as this year’s World Tourism Day theme, “Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism,” takes centre stage in Mbale City on 27th September, the Ministry says ensuring the next generation of guides, planners and entrepreneurs are digitally ready is as important to the sector’s future as any single campaign or celebration.