Uganda's wildlife park earnings are expected to leap 25 percent in the 2009/10 to an estimated 20-billion shillings (about R75-million), the head of the wildlife authority said.

The east African country relies on tourism for a significant chunk of its foreign exchange earnings. But the sector contributes only five percent of GDP and analysts say a large portion of the nation's full potential is still undeveloped.

Moses Mapesa, Executive Director of the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) told Reuters Ugandan parks earned 16-billion shillings in 2008/09.

UWA, which manages all national parks and game reserves, expects 200 000 tourists this financial year from 142 000 previously.

"There has been no significant negative impact on national park visitation and there is no correlation whatsoever even for the monthly fluctuations between visitation to the national parks and the global crunch," he said.

Contrary to economists' prediction that the nation's tourism would be pummelled by the global financial crisis, Mapesa said 2009 has in fact seen a significant rise in tourist numbers coming to Uganda.

The first five months of 2009 saw a combined total of 23 000 tourists who visited the country's parks and others sites compared to 19 000 in the first five months of 2008.

Although it trails its east African neighbours of Kenya and Tanzania in annual tourist arrivals and earnings by a huge gap, Uganda is treasured for its exclusive combination of the "Big 5 Plus 1," referring to the lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, rhino and then chimpanzees and mountain gorillas.

"You do not find this mix anywhere else in the world," he said.

The country has 10 national parks with Queen Elizabeth in the south west being the largest.

UWA statistics show that foreign tourists to Uganda have increased from 32 000 in 2004 to 52 700 in 2008.

Mapesa said Uganda's stained international image was stifling the full potential of its tourism sector.

"Prospective tourists either do not know about Uganda or if they know it is only the bad things like civil wars, children and innocent people including tourists being abducted and killed, HIV and Aids, child sacrifice, disease outbreaks," he said.

Half of all foreign tourists in Uganda are from Britain and the United States.

There has been a noticeable surge in tourist interest in Uganda, Mapesa said, following the launching of the Friend-a-Gorilla campaign geared toward stirring global interest in mountain gorillas that are found only in the region. - Reuters