RE: LUXURY CULTURAL HERITAGE VILLAGES ™
After viewing many parcels of land this year we have now signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a twenty-five year exclusive concession to operate, market and construct Luxury Cultural Heritage Villages on 300 acres of prime land in East Buganda; a Solar Green Tourism project located approximately 30 miles north of Kampala, near Semuto in Luwero District, Uganda. The priority was to keep the land in Ugandan ownership.
This private British initiative will greatly assist the Ugandan Ministry of Tourism in promoting Luxury Cultural Tourism. We announced the project at the World Travel Market (WTM) in London, 12-15 November. The project was endorsed personally at the WTM by KAMUSWAGA OF KOOKI one of the first four participating Kingdoms.
The project was disseminated during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kampala, Uganda, 23-25 November, as a positive project for the people of Uganda, creating employment, educational, new created cultural tourism visitors, and an inflow of foreign currency.
The first phase will be four invited Kingdoms to participate in this unique Cultural Heritage Villages Project without any financial commitment from them. Each Village will be constructed on five acres of land with seven traditional homesteads for cultural visitors to experience living in an African Village with bio flush toilets and shower. All we require is for the Kingdoms to advise us on the composite authentic layout requirements of their traditional Heritage Village. We shall invite other Ugandan Kingdoms to participate in the next phases plus we are in talks with the Zulu Kingdom from South Africa and Ethiopia.
Cultural visitors will purchase a minimum two-night all inclusive package, which includes authentic staffing, food, beverages and the rich culture of the Kingdom they have chosen to stay. We anticipate the first four Heritage Villages will be ready approximately September 2008, giving us 28 traditional homesteads per night.
The Kingdoms participating will benefit through a donation based on revenue generated in their Village plus they keep the profit on the sale of handicrafts. The local people in the area of Semuto will benefit from this project byway of donations for school and clinic improvements. These donations will be monitored and the cultural visitor will be very happy to know that a percentage of the payment will be donated as above.
The Cultural Heritage Villages will be added in clusters of four spread about the acreage with a strong possibility of a Solar Green style hotel and a conference centre. The Project Managers “Solar Green Tourism” will use local sustainable materials for construction.
The Heritage Villages are ideal for stopovers to and from the Murchison Falls National Park and other destinations. Each Kingdom will be a showcase for journeying visitors to visit such areas as Jinja, Source of the Nile (Busoga Kingdom) and Fort Portal (Tooro Kingdom).
We are carefully evaluating the logistics of day visitors but keeping the cultural element. Our web site is constantly being up-dated.
Kampala, 27th November 2007
