Miss Tourism, Barbara Nakitto, on her welcome party at Kampala Sheraton Hotel

However, she added that if God bring her aright partners, she will go with him as she is above 18 yeard of age.  Nakitto, 22, flew out of the country for the pageant over a month ago, alongside her trainer, Sarah Nyamwenge. While in Malaysia, she said, they visited (her and the other 59 contestants) various tourist attractions, museums, among others.“I did my best to showcase Uganda’s attributes,” she said.
It was fortunate that during the event’s grand finale, Nakitto walked away with the Miss Friendship crown, one of the crowns competed for on the night. And overall, she came 14th, beating majority of the 60 beauties who participated in the event.
The annual event was won by Philippine’s Angeli Dione Gomez. First runner up was Thailand’s Sunidporn Srisuwan. And second runner up, Australia’s Sarah Czarnuch.
During her welcome thing at the Sheraton, Maria Mutagamba, the tourism minister, was quick to point out that Nakitto’s victory was synonymous with Uganda’s hospitality; “because we are known as friendly and very welcoming people.”  She, Nakitto, was flanked by her trainer, Nyamwenge, and a couple officials from the tourism department. And all the while she listened to speech after speech congratulating her for lifting Uganda’s flag high, she just sat there like a baby queen, only constantly flushing her very cute smile.
Mutagamba promised to award Nakitto, a car to help her doing her work as Uganda’s Miss Tourism.  Nakitto also hoped to move around the country, visiting school after school, encouraging the young about Uganda’s heritage and traditions.
“What sets us apart from those developed countries is our culture, our heritage, and values. Yes, they may be developed, but they don’t have our culture. They don’t have our green. They don’t have our environment. Our young people need to appreciate these values,” she said.
It should be noted that tourism earns Uganda, a lot of foreign exchange which is used to develop the country. Uganda is a green country, with beautiful sceneries and endowed with a variety of wildlife.