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Kampala, Uganda | NEWS CORRESPONDENT | The Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) has announced its sponsorship of the first-ever performance by Jamaican dancehall queen Spice in Uganda. The concert, organised by Africa One Ltd, will take place on Saturday, 9th May 2026 at Lugogo Cricket Oval Kampala and is the headline event of a week-long programme of tourism experiences designed to show the world what Uganda has to offer.
The announcement comes as UTB makes a deliberate move to broaden Uganda’s MICE strategy (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Events) beyond boardrooms and convention centres. The global entertainment industry is projected to exceed USD 50 billion by 2030, and global concert and festival attendance is expected to surpass 500 million by 2027.
Against that backdrop, Uganda is staking its claim. Already ranked sixth on the African continent by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), UTB’s National MICE Strategy targets over USD 100 million in economic returns by 2030 and events like this concert are central to that ambition.
“Today’s business and leisure travellers are looking for more than a destination they want after-hours experiences, nightlife, music, and cultural immersion. This concert speaks directly to that demand. Uganda has one of the youngest, most vibrant, and most creative populations on the continent, and a tourism strategy that does not speak to that energy has a gap in it. The Spice Concert closes that gap.” Daniel Irunga, the Senior Brand Officer at UTB
Part of what makes this partnership stand out is its conservation dimension. A portion of the concert proceeds will go directly to rhino conservation at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary in Nakasongola, one of the places in Uganda where visitors can track Southern White Rhinos on foot in the wild. From a founding population of just six animals in 2005, Ziwa is today home to 59 rhinos, a recovery that stands among Africa’s finest conservation success stories.
Spice herself will travel to Ziwa on Thursday, 7th May, to take part in a Rhino Naming Ceremony the same initiative that President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni presided over in September 2025 as part of Uganda’s five-year, USD 11 million Name a Rhino campaign. Before and after the ceremony, her week in Uganda will take in the Uganda Martyrs Shrine at Namugongo, the Kasubi Tombs, a formal engagement with the Buganda Kingdom at Bulange, and a game drive at Murchison Falls.
On the night of the 9th, she will share the Lugogo Cricket Oval stage with some of Uganda’s biggest names: Sheebah, Cindy Sanyu, Winnie Nwagi, Karole Kasita, Mark Da Urban, Ziza Bafana, and Navio a lineup that is itself a statement about the depth of Uganda’s creative industry.
“We are telling the world that Uganda is a place where you can track rhinos in the morning and dance to the Queen of Dancehall at night. This is the kind of tourism partnership Uganda needs, one that entertains, educates, and protects. When Spice names a rhino at Ziwa, that story reaches every corner of the globe.” Irunga revealed.
For Spice, the week is personal as much as it is professional. “I have not just come to perform and leave. I have come to Uganda to walk through, to look a Rhino in the eye at Ziwa, to feel the spray of Murchison Falls. When I was told that proceeds from my concert would go to saving rhinos, I said yes immediately. Music with meaning is the only music worth making.”
