AFCON 2027 Tourism: Uganda Pushes Hotels to Cash In on the Africa Cup of Nations

Uganda wants AFCON 2027 tourism to outlast the final whistle. At the 7th Uganda Economic Forum in Kampala this week, government and industry leaders said the money spent on stadiums, roads and airports before the Africa Cup of Nations should leave Uganda with lasting tourism growth, jobs and business. They also warned that hotel prices and service quality could decide how much of that value the country keeps.

Uganda will co-host the tournament with Kenya and Tanzania in June and July 2027, the first time the three countries have staged Africa's biggest football tournament together. The opening match is scheduled for 19 June. For travellers, the tournament will bring visiting football fans into a country whose parks, lodges and domestic flights are usually busiest with safari and gorilla-trekking visitors in the same dry-season months.

What was said in Kampala

Speaking on the forum's second day at Next Media Park, State Minister for Sports Peter Ogwang urged businesses in hospitality, transport, food services and entertainment to prepare for visitors, according to the Nile Post. He also asked that the new sports facilities be kept in economic use once the tournament ends, rather than left empty.

Dr Dennis Mugimba, spokesperson for the Ministry of Education and Sports, pressed tourism businesses to offer affordable packages. He warned that high accommodation costs could put visitors off and encouraged hotels to strengthen their associations to improve their bargaining power.

Juliana Kagwa, chief executive of the Uganda Tourism Board, said the country's destination marketing leans on wildlife, landscapes and biodiversity, and stressed that local businesses need to be ready to benefit when big sporting events bring visitors in.

The money behind the tournament

The scale of public spending is large. The Nile Post reported that government has invested more than Shs3.5 trillion in sports facilities and supporting infrastructure ahead of AFCON, and that the 2026/27 budget sets aside Shs905 billion for tournament preparations, covering stadium upgrades, roads, airport works and other needs.

Uganda's proposed venues are Mandela National Stadium at Namboole in Kampala, the new Hoima City Stadium in western Uganda and Akii Bua Olympic Stadium in Lira in the north. The Confederation of African Football had not published its final venue list or match allocation as of late September, according to beIN Sports, so fans should treat the venue plan as provisional.

Hoima is the clearest test of the tourism case. The 20,000-seat Hoima City Stadium, commissioned by President Yoweri Museveni in December 2025, cost about US$129 million, The Independent reported. In April the same outlet reported that government would give Bunyoro hotel owners UGX 30 billion, structured as a loan to be repaid after the tournament, to upgrade their properties. The Bunyoro Hotel Owners Association had asked for twice that. A government technical committee inspected 17 hotels in Hoima city, and the association has said the sub-region needs at least 900 rooms of tournament standard. Its chairperson, Dr Fred Kaliisa Kabagambe, said the upgraded hotels would go on to serve visitors to Murchison Falls National Park, Kaiso-Tonya Game Reserve, Kibiro Hot Springs and Bugoma Forest.

Hotels need the business

The push comes as Uganda's hotels are working with soft demand. Figures from the Ministry of Finance's microeconomic dashboard, reported by the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation on 3 October, put national average hotel occupancy at 53.2 per cent in the 2024/25 financial year. Occupancy in January to April 2026 slipped to 49.8 per cent, from 52.1 per cent a year earlier. Kampala recorded the highest occupancy, at 63.8 per cent, and the Eastern Region the lowest, at 34 per cent. The Finance ministry expects AFCON to lift demand for rooms and other tourism services.

That gap between arrivals and leisure spending is a wider theme. Uganda recorded about 1.64 million international visitors in 2025 and roughly US$1.62 billion in tourism receipts, but a Daily Monitor analysis published on 17 October argues that the growth has yet to show up in comparable leisure travel, pointing to gaps in marketing, access to attractions and project delivery. Finance Minister Henry Musasizi told an industry review conference this month that the government is targeting US$5 billion a year in tourism receipts by 2030, which depends on longer stays and higher-value visitors rather than arrivals alone.

Lessons from Morocco

Organisers have been pointing to the last tournament as proof of what is possible. Speaking at the Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo in May, CAF commercial director Hassan Elkamah said AFCON 2025 in Morocco drew more than 1.5 million visitors and had an estimated economic impact of about US$2 billion in a month, The Observer reported. He also noted that Morocco's national airline became the preferred carrier for most fans after an aggressive marketing push, a pointed example for Uganda Airlines.

FUFA second vice president Aza Taibu told the same forum that Uganda did not want investments to stall once the tournament ends. Brenda Kabasinguzi of the Uganda Free Zones and Export Promotions Authority named Hoima, Jinja, Murchison Falls and Karamoja as priority areas for tourism growth, and said the industry needed to sell experiences that visitors are willing to pay for.

What it means for travellers

If you are planning a Uganda safari or gorilla trek for June or July 2027, book early. Tournament fans will compete with leisure travellers for rooms in Kampala, Entebbe, Hoima and Lira, and for domestic transport and vehicles. Lodges near Murchison Falls, which is within reach of Hoima, may also see more demand.

Gorilla and chimpanzee permits are sold separately by the Uganda Wildlife Authority, and the best-located lodges near Bwindi and Kibale fill early in peak season anyway. See our guide to Uganda gorilla permits for 2026 and 2027 and our Murchison Falls trip cost guide for current fees, and our best time to visit Uganda guide for how the dry season shapes plans.

For football fans, the tournament is a chance to combine matches with a short safari. Hoima is the natural base for a Murchison Falls side trip, and Lira sits on the road north towards Kidepo Valley. Match schedules and final venues will come from CAF, so wait for confirmed fixtures before booking non-refundable travel.

Photo: Gadlee / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).