Kampala hosts parliamentarians from different parts of the world. Around 2,000 members of parliament from around the world came to Kampala for the International Parliamentary Union meeting. The meeting is to last for 6 days. Some of the delegates who came early took the advantage of seeing some of Uganda’s spectacular sights in the national parks, boosting #VisitUganda2012, a tag line developed after the Lonely Planet guide book company elevated the “Pearl of Africa” as their global number one destination for the current year. In the same way, those who missed that chance have reportedly opted to take post conference tours to visit the mountain gorillas in Bwindi National Park, or else see go for chimpanzee tracking in Kibale, take the launch rides on the Kazinga Channel in Queen Elizabeth National Park or see the Nile squeeze through a 7 meter wide gap in Murchison Falls while others enjoyed all the activities one after another. The meetings of the IPU took place at both the Kampala Serena Conference Centre and the Commonwealth Resort in Munyonyo, where the official opening took place in the presence of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
Uganda’s tourism fraternity was needless to say excited and the Uganda Tourists Board was a key player in the preparation for the global conference, providing delegates and participants with material about where to visit and what to see. Other publications like The Eye also availed to the visitors showing the great variety of restaurants, art galleries and places to visit Kampala now has on offer for tourists. Official carrier for the event was Brussels Airlines which had key staff participate in the planning and preparation for the IPU Meeting in 2012.
