New York -- Ellen Posell loves Uganda. "It’s a beautiful country and I really like the people there," she said. Posell, a travel consultant in Los Angeles, returned from a trip to Lake Mburo National Park and Bwinfi Impenetrable Forest National Park last week, brimming with enthusiasm about her visit.

Posell is on the local and international board of the Africa Travel Association, an organization which promotes tourism in African countries to tour operators in North America, and she would like to see ATA do more to tell its members about Uganda. But there is one problem: Uganda is not a member of ATA, having not paid the annual US$1,500 membership dues for the last few years.

Mira Berman, the executive director of ATA, thinks that’s a shame. "What ATA membership would do for Uganda, is allow it to come into the mainstream with the promotional activities we do year-round in all our chapters, both here in the United States and in Africa," Berman said.

Berman recalled that Uganda was a participating member in 1996, when the Hon. General Moses Ali, then the Minister of Tourism, Wildlife, and Antiquities, spoke at an ATA meeting in Morocco. The Monitor was unable to reach someone at the Ugandan embassy in Washington, DC for comment as to why Uganda let its ATA membership lapse.

As an ATA member, Uganda would gain access to 80 to 90 percent of the North American market for tourism to Africa, Berman said. As Uganda strives to rejuvenate its long-moribund tourism industry, membership would be a major boost. With membership, Uganda could market itself by hosting tour operators on an informational trip, either in small groups or in the dozens or hundreds for an international meeting.

Cameroon will host such a meeting at the end of November. An estimated 100 delegates will converge on the city of Yaounde for ATA’s fifth Ecotourism, Trade, and Investment Symposium, where Cameroon will promote its attractions. To encourage delegates to make the trip, a four-person delegation from the Cameroon Ministry of Tourism visited ATA chapters around the U.S. in early October, using videos and speeches to educate tour operators about Cameroon’s beaches, national parks, and cities.

"Countries are anxious to have these meetings with us," Berman said about ATA’s congresses and symposia. "It gives them a chance to present themselves in the North American market. This is a very important marketing tool for them."

Berman said the approximately 20 member nations of the ATA are the "driving force" for the over 1,000 members of the organization.

Uganda is not being completely shut out by ATA because of its non-member status. Posell said her local chapter is hosting a "Uganda night" in a joint meeting with the Association for the Promotion of Tourism to Africa -- an organization similar to ATA -- on November 15.

The downturn in tourism since the September 11 attacks have hit Posell’s business hard, despite reports from some U.S. tour operators to the contrary. In her six or seven years in the business, this is the worst slump she has seen. She said she is her only client now; she will travel to Europe and Africa in a few weeks. "Nobody’s traveling right now, except people like me," Posell said. "Nobody sells any trips anywhere, just about, except to Hawaii."

Still, Berman thinks the African tourism industry is in a good position for long-term growth, and encouraged Uganda to get back on board so it can reap the benefits of ATA membership. She specifically extended an invitation for Uganda to send a delegation to the Cameroom Symposium. "They could do a case study in front of a seminar so that they would have a platform that would let word out that they are back in business and they really want to have tourism business from North America," Berman said.

However, Berman isn’t even sure how to proceed. "I don’t have the names of the right people and how to reach them," she said. "I haven’t heard from them." Berman doesn’t know who the current minister of Tourism, Trade and Industry is; she asked The Monitor for this information.