By Wamala Sipirian
Published: September 17, 2026
Uganda’s embassy in Switzerland has partnered with Private Safaris, a long-established Swiss specialist in African travel, to promote Uganda as a tourism destination in Zurich.
As part of the campaign, advertisements featuring Uganda’s wildlife and landscapes began appearing on trams in Zurich on Wednesday.
A promotional video has also been running at Zurich’s main railway station since September 1. The video is displayed every 20 to 30 minutes, targeting commuters, residents and international travellers passing through the station.
Campaign Targets Swiss Travellers
The embassy said Zurich was selected for the tram campaign because of the city’s concentration of high-income residents.
It also described Swiss citizens as frequent international travellers with significant spending power, making the market important for Uganda’s tourism sector.
According to the embassy, the tram and railway-station campaigns represent Uganda’s first sustained, high-visibility tourism promotion in Zurich.
Uganda’s ambassador to Switzerland, Marcel Tibaleka, said the partnership was intended to increase awareness of Uganda among Swiss travellers.
The campaign, he said, was about “bringing Uganda to Switzerland” and encouraging Swiss tourists to visit the country.
“We look forward to translating this increased visibility into more Swiss tourists visiting Uganda,” Tibaleka said at the launch.
Private Safaris Promotes African Travel
Private Safaris says it took its first group of Swiss tourists to Kenya in 1971. The company was acquired by Kuoni Reisen in 1989 and now operates as a brand of Dertour Suisse.
The travel company says it has received the Swiss Travel Award for best Swiss tour operator for Africa 17 times.
Its existing African travel offerings include gorilla trekking, one of Uganda’s major tourism attractions.
Uganda Highlights Wildlife and Landscapes
Uganda has long promoted itself internationally as the “Pearl of Africa,” a phrase associated with Winston Churchill’s 1908 book My African Journey, following his travels in the country.
Mountain gorilla trekking is among Uganda’s best-known tourism experiences.
According to UNESCO, mountain gorillas are found only in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the wider Virunga landscape, which extends across Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Bwindi, located in southwestern Uganda, was home to almost half of the world’s mountain gorilla population, with 459 gorillas recorded there in December 2018, according to the source.
Uganda Expands European Tourism Promotion
The Zurich campaign follows similar public-transport advertising initiatives by Ugandan diplomatic missions elsewhere in Europe.
In June, Uganda’s embassy in Paris ran three fully branded buses on major routes in the French capital.
Uganda’s embassy in Copenhagen also conducted a similar campaign using public transport in the Danish capital.
Earlier this year, Uganda was represented at the FESPO travel fair in Zurich, where the country’s national pavilion was sponsored by the Ugandan mission. Thirteen members of the Association of Uganda Tour Operators participated at a subsidised rate.
Embassy Plans More Swiss Partnerships
The embassy said it plans to continue developing partnerships in Switzerland as part of efforts to increase the number of Swiss visitors to Uganda.
The mission also wants to increase tourist spending and the length of visitors’ stays in the country.
The latest campaign combines public-transport advertising with travel-industry partnerships to increase Uganda’s visibility among Swiss travellers in one of the country’s key urban centres.
Sources
Nile Post