Uganda has suspended domestic tourism amid rising cases of COVID-19, a tourism official said Friday.

Lilly Ajarova, chief executive officer of Uganda Tourism Board, told Xinhua by telephone that the COVID-19 National Taskforce made the decision to suspend local tourism but allowed foreigners to keep coming in.

"Everyone should remain in one place in a bid to curb the spread," she said.

Ajarova said the tourism sector was picking up before the new lockdown. "We were running a successful campaign aimed at encouraging domestic tourism. The lockdown will set us back."

She added that the new wave of the pandemic will also affect international arrivals as some countries have placed Uganda on their red lists.

Uganda used to earn over 1.6 billion U.S. dollars annually from the tourism sector, but the country's tourism earnings in 2020 dropped by 73 percent due to the pandemic, according to the tourism ministry.

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