Uganda–Mozambique Tourism Pact: Tour Operators Sign MoU at Maputo Roadshow

Uganda and Mozambique have taken a concrete step towards selling the two countries together. At a Uganda tourism roadshow in Maputo on 8 October 2026, the Association of Uganda Tour Operators (AUTO) and the Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators of Mozambique (AVITUM) signed a memorandum of understanding on tourism cooperation, setting up a framework for joint promotion, business partnerships and multi-destination packages that combine Uganda's gorillas and savannah parks with Mozambique's Indian Ocean coast.

The event, organised by the Uganda High Commission in Dar es Salaam, also brought together about 100 business-to-business meetings, held on a virtual platform, between Ugandan tour operators and their Mozambican counterparts, according to reports in the Nile Post and UG Bulletin. For an industry that still relies heavily on long-haul markets in Europe and North America, the roadshow is part of a deliberate push to win more travellers from within Africa.

What was agreed in Maputo

The centrepiece was the AUTO and AVITUM agreement. It is an industry-to-industry deal rather than a government treaty, which means its value depends on what member companies do with it. As described in the coverage, it covers three areas: joint marketing of both destinations, partnerships between individual companies, and the design of packages that let a traveller book Uganda and Mozambique on a single itinerary.

Col. (Rtd.) Fred Mwesigye, Uganda's High Commissioner to Mozambique, used his keynote to pitch mountain gorilla trekking, wildlife safaris, cultural heritage and adventure travel. He urged both sides to use the strong political relationship between the two countries to drive tourism investment, joint destination marketing and higher visitor numbers in both directions.

Speaking for Mozambique's National Institute for Tourism (INATUR), Telma Sono welcomed the initiative and stressed the need for closer tourism cooperation, partnerships between private companies and the sharing of knowledge between the two industries.

No new air link or visa change was announced at the event. The agreement is about selling and packaging, not about how travellers physically get between Entebbe and Maputo.

Part of a wider roadshow push

Maputo is the latest stop in a series of regional roadshows run by the same High Commission under its economic and commercial diplomacy programme. In October 2025 it held Uganda's first tourism roadshow in Mauritius, a two-day event in Port Louis led by State Minister for Tourism Martin Mugarra, the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation reported at the time. Mugarra said then that more than 1,000 Ugandans visited Mauritius each year before COVID-19, a figure that had fallen to about 300, and that the two countries could "work together to regrow these numbers."

In April 2026 the High Commission took the format to Dar es Salaam. That roadshow ended with two agreements, one between the Uganda Tourism Association and the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators and another with the Zanzibar Association of Tour Operators, covering joint marketing, combined packages, training and the sharing of market information, PML Daily reported. Willy Chambulo, president of the Tanzanian operators' association, told the gathering that the two countries "are not competitors."

The Maputo agreement extends the same model to southern Africa and to a Portuguese-speaking market where Uganda has had little visibility.

Why regional markets matter to Uganda

The push follows a record year. Uganda received 1,642,215 international visitors in 2025, according to the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities' 2025 Statistical Abstract, and visitors spent about UGX 5.8 trillion. The same report shows that mainland Africa supplied 79.2 per cent of arrivals, led by Kenya, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Many of those visitors came to see friends and family or on business rather than on holiday, which is why the industry sees fellow African markets as the next pool of leisure travellers to convert. Our report on Uganda's record 2025 arrivals has the full breakdown.

AUTO is well placed to carry the deal forward. Founded in 1995, the association now counts more than 400 licensed tour operators among its members, according to a Nile Post report marking its 30th anniversary in October 2025.

Mozambique is also growing. Tourist arrivals rose by almost 15 per cent to 1.27 million in 2025, up from 1.09 million in 2024, according to figures reported by 360 Mozambique, which quoted Economy Minister Basílio Muhate describing the rise as a sign of the sector's recovery and resilience. Mozambique has also launched an online tourist visa portal. For Ugandan operators, that makes Mozambique both a potential source of visitors and a beach extension to offer clients who have finished a safari.

What happens next

Memoranda like this one only matter if they produce products that travellers can buy. The signs to watch are joint packages appearing on AUTO and AVITUM members' websites, familiarisation trips for Mozambican agents to Uganda's parks, and any move by airlines to make the journey between the two countries simpler. None of these was announced in Maputo, so for now the agreement is a framework, not a finished product.

What it means for travellers

For travellers in southern Africa, the most likely change is more choice of ready-made itineraries that pair a gorilla trek or a Nile safari in Uganda with time on the Mozambican coast, sold through travel agents at home.

Book through licensed operators: ask whether a company is an AUTO member and check that it is licensed by the Uganda Tourism Board. Our recent report on a tourism scam arrest explains how to check an operator before paying a deposit.

Check entry rules for both countries before you book. Uganda issues tourist visas online, and our East Africa tourist visa guide explains the options. Mozambique runs its own online visa system, so confirm the current requirements for your passport.

Plan around the seasons. Our guide to the best time to visit Uganda covers when gorilla trekking and savannah safaris are at their best, and our Bwindi destination page explains what to expect in the forest.

Photo: Julien Lagarde / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5).