By Our Staff Reporter

MBALE CITY, UGANDA | 2, September 2026.
Mbale City is stepping into the global spotlight as Uganda prepares to host the 2026 World Tourism Day celebrations on 27th September at Mbale Senior Secondary School grounds, under the theme “Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism.” The Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities has confirmed Mbale as host city and is working with local authorities and tourism stakeholders to ready the region for an influx of visitors from Uganda, East Africa and beyond.

For Bugisu, this is far more than a one-day event. It is a platform to position the region its culture, its landscape, its people and its produce before a national and international audience, and to turn that attention into lasting economic opportunity.

A showcase of coffee, culture and cuisine
Mount Elgon’s celebrated Arabica coffee, Malewa cuisine and the Imbalu cultural heritage of the Bamasaba are expected to feature prominently during the celebrations. Visitors should come prepared to taste one of Uganda’s leading export products at its source — the Mount Elgon Arabica grown on Bugisu’s slopes has long been counted among the country’s finest, and tourists will find no shortage of places in Mbale to sample it. Mobile Coffee Uganda, known locally as Coffee A Cup and widely regarded as Mbale’s oldest coffee shop, is among the outlets ready to serve visitors a genuine taste of the region’s brew. Organisers are also encouraging visitors to explore Wanale, Sipi, Sisiyi and Budwale waterfalls, Mount Elgon itself, and the coffee tourism trail that runs from farm to cup from meeting the farmers who grow it, to watching it processed and roasted, to tasting freshly brewed Bugisu Arabica.

Mbale’s hospitality sector is preparing to receive the visitor boom. Established facilities including Mbale Resort Hotel, Mt Elgon Hotel, Mbale Courts View Hotel and Wash And Wills Hotel are positioned at the centre of the response, alongside Mountain Inn Hotel – Maluku, Belmont Villas – Mbale and Wanale Falls Lodge. Beyond room bookings, the ripple effect is expected to reach restaurants, transporters, tour guides, conference services and local entertainment.

Mbale: a city with deep roots
Mbale’s own story adds weight to its role as host. Gazetted as a regional centre and township in 1906, the city attained municipal council status on 1st March 1962, a milestone in Uganda’s urban history. Today it sits at the heart of a region known not only for its culture and coffee but for producing some of Uganda’s celebrated athletics champions, alongside caves, museums and historical sites still waiting to be discovered by the wider world.

Bugisu is also a food basket for the region and beyond, from fresh agricultural produce to the distinctive bamboo shoots (malewa) that define local cuisine — another entry point for visitors to experience the warmth and hospitality of the Bamasaba people.

Mount Elgon National Park: UWA’s gateway to the mountain
Much of what draws visitors to Bugisu sits under the care of the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), the government agency responsible for managing the country’s national parks, reserves and sanctuaries. Mount Elgon National Park is one of UWA’s ten national parks, and treks up the mountain are conducted alongside UWA rangers, who guide visitors through its forests, moorlands and caves.

The mountain itself is one of Uganda’s most striking natural features an extinct volcano whose summit gives way not to a single peak but to a vast caldera, one of the largest of its kind in the world. Its upper slopes, shared with neighbouring Kenya, have been designated a UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve, and the park is home to over 300 bird species, including the endangered Lammergeyer, alongside a wide range of forest wildlife. For Bugisu, that UWA-managed wilderness is as much a part of the World Tourism Day story as the coffee, the culture and the hospitality on offer in Mbale.

Mbale Regional Zoo: UWA’s newest attraction
UWA’s presence in Bugisu now extends beyond Mount Elgon. Earlier this year, Vice President Jessica Alupo officially launched the Mbale Regional Zoo, UWA’s first regional satellite zoo and a sister site to the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre in Entebbe. Built on 62 acres of land in Mutoto village along Tororo Road, the facility received its first animals including lions, a zebra, a waterbuck, an ostrich and peacocks as part of a phased relocation from Entebbe ahead of opening. UWA says the zoo is meant to bring conservation education, research and wildlife experiences closer to communities in Eastern Uganda, sparing residents and schoolchildren the cost and distance of travelling to Entebbe, while also boosting domestic tourism and creating jobs around Mbale. With the World Tourism Day crowds already headed to the city, the new zoo gives visitors one more reason to extend their stay.

A launchpad, not just a celebration
The Tourism Ministry has outlined a full programme running beyond the single day, including cultural events, sports activities, exhibitions, regional tourism experiences and a review conference, with the stated aim of ensuring communities and local businesses benefit long after the celebrations end.

World Tourism Day 2026 should be treated as a launchpad, not a finish line. Mbale has the location, Bugisu has the culture, Mount Elgon provides the landscape and with deliberate planning around exhibitions, space for creatives, and a permanent place of remembrance, the region can ensure that what visitors experience in September keeps drawing them, and others, back.
27 September 2026
Mbale Senior Secondary School Grounds, Mbale City
Theme: “Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism”