| Overview : Tourism has been recognised as one of the key drivers of Uganda’s social and economic transformation over the last 10 years. In line with global trends, the tourism sector in Uganda has grown, creating a positive impact on employment creation and foreign exchange earnings for the country. The sector has emerged as one of the largest export earners contributing 17.9% of total exports; 7.3% of the national GDP; and supported 6.3% of total employment in 2017. Receipts from tourism have also increased from USD 802 million in 2010 to about USD 1,450 million in 2017. Nonetheless, the sector is yet to realize its full potential in part due to the relatively low competitiveness of Uganda’s tourism in comparison to her neighbours, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania. The World Economic Forum's (WEF) travel and tourism competitiveness 2017 report ranks Uganda as the 106th overall competitive destination in the world out of 136 countries. Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda are ranked 80th, 91st and 97th respectively. In addition, the poor and low-income communities, especially those living in areas where Uganda’s tourism attractions and resources are located, have not meaningfully participated/benefitted in the tourism value chains. Government recognizes the need for an enabling and supportive policy and regulatory framework that promotes inter-alia, competitiveness; inclusion; green tourism; decent jobs; cultural and natural heritage as a means to achievement of sustainable and inclusive tourism. In this regard, in 2015, the Government of Uganda reviewed and updated the tourism policy framework. The Tourism Policy 2015 and Uganda Tourism Development Master Plan 2014 – 2024 was developed to provide a framework for translating Uganda’s Vision 2040 and NDP II into specific strategies that harness the potential of tourism. However, implementation of the policy framework has been hampered by the absence of a concomitant legal and regulatory framework that is aligned to the Revised Policy of 2015. Government of Uganda and UNDP have developed a project “The Strengthening Tourism Inclusive Business Ecosystem (STIBE)” to boost the sector competitiveness and inclusivity by: a) Strengthening the policy, legal and regulatory framework for inclusive business in tourism sector; b) Strengthening the capacity for policy implementation and planning; c) Establishing and operationalizing sustainable mechanisms for coordination of the tourism ecosystem stakeholders; and d) Strengthening the capacity of tourism private sector to conduct inclusive business. This project will support Government’s efforts to strengthen the tourism legal and regulatory framework, and in particular to ensure that appropriate laws and regulations are in place to give force to the operationalization of the tourism policy. In this regard, the project is seeking the services of two competent individual consultants to review the existing legal framework including the Tourism Act 2008, the Regulatory Impact Assessment of the Act, and prepare an issues paper that will inform the preparation of an updated Tourism Act that is aligned to, and will support the implementation of, the existing tourism policy framework. | 
