Photo: Travelarz / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl
Kenya and Uganda have signed four agreements intended to turn growing cross-border travel into more tourism, trade and jobs across East Africa.
Deals link travel, tourism and commerce
The agreements were signed during the fifth Uganda–Kenya Coast Tourism and Innovation Summit in Mombasa, held on 26 and 27 October.
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They pair the Kenya Association of Travel Agents with the Uganda Association of Travel Agents, and the Kenya Association of Tour Operators with the Association of Uganda Tour Operators. Two further agreements bring together the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry with Uganda’s Private Sector Foundation and the Banana Industrial Research and Development Centre.
The partnerships are designed to encourage joint travel packages, business links and investment, while connecting Kenya’s beach and heritage offering with Uganda’s wildlife, mountain, lake and cultural experiences.
Pressure for easier movement
Officials used the summit to renew calls for fewer practical barriers facing travellers and businesses at East African borders.
Uganda’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs, Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga, said the region’s freedom-of-movement commitments must deliver visible benefits for ordinary citizens and enterprises. Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for East African Community, ASALs and Regional Development, Beatrice Askul Moe, said Nairobi was committed to tackling inconsistent procedures, lack of public awareness and paperwork that delays travellers.
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The summit programme included a review of Article 104 of the East African Community Treaty, which addresses the free movement of people. Delegates also considered technology-led tourism services and investment opportunities, with young innovators presenting digital solutions for the sector.
A growing two-way market
The cooperation comes as travel between the two countries rises. Kenyan arrivals in Uganda increased from 466,902 in 2024 to 519,041 in 2025, according to figures cited by the Uganda Tourism Board. Ugandan arrivals in Kenya grew from 201,623 to 234,556 over the same period, with Uganda becoming Kenya’s second-largest visitor source market.
That makes the initiative significant beyond hotel bookings and tour sales. Easier multi-country travel could support small tour firms, transport workers, guides, cultural businesses, food suppliers and young digital entrepreneurs in both countries.
The summit’s organisers have framed the strategy as ‘beach to bush, bush to beach’: selling the Kenyan coast and Uganda’s inland attractions as connected experiences rather than rival destinations.
Delivery will be the test
The agreements create a formal route for tourism and business groups to work together, but their impact will depend on whether governments and industry bodies follow through on mobility reforms, marketing and transport connections.
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A summit outcome document is expected to set out institutional commitments and timelines, with progress due for review at the 2027 gathering. For East African travellers and Black-owned businesses in the tourism value chain, the central question is whether the new agreements make regional travel cheaper, simpler and more profitable in practice.