ADDIS ABABA – Tourism experts suggested that the country needs to extensively engage in promoting its cultural heritages to get the income needed. Approached by The Ethiopian Herald Total Adventure Travel Company Director, Blaine Zuver said that the country needs to promote its most traditional and well preserved culture.
For example, Epiphany is the baptism of Jesus which celebrates across the world but it has special features in Ethiopia, he noted. In his stay here, Zuver has visited Addis Ababa and Lalibela and finally arrived in Gondar to celebrate the Ethiopian Epiphany that he got it “very traditional and colorful.”
As to him, there is strong tradition in Ethiopia than other countries about Christian holiday celebrations. He came to Ethiopia to facilitate his travel company for scheduling tour to Ethiopia after he gained better tour experience by visiting Turkey, Russia, Japan, China and Pakistan. He also plans to visit Eritrea and Dubai next to Ethiopia.
According to him, Ethiopia can be a model country for protecting its original heritages both the tangible and intangible ones. He is keen to organize tours to Ethiopia so as to bring a high number of visitors by inviting and facilitating them to the country.
Canadian visitor Chaim Shastik found the Ethiopian Epiphany as an interesting event. “I have never seen anything like this before,” he said. Everybody is dressed up traditional costumes and colors of Ethiopia which is so beautiful, he mentioned.
According to him, the Ethiopian Epiphany festivity is very special and recognizable than other celebrations of the baptism of Jesus that he partook around the world.“I hope to come here in the future and visit the country once again.” Shastik wants to invite other people to come to Ethiopia and visit its Epiphany when he returns to Canada.
Tourism Ethiopia CEO, Sileshi Girma noted that the country needs to extensively work on marketing and promoting activities about its natural and manmade tourism treasures including the culture, history and natural attractions.
Ethiopia is trying to get the needed economic benefit by exploiting its tourism potential from a million tourists that come to the country each year, he said. However, he said, a lot needs to be done in terms of promoting the national tourist attractions at international level.
“We ought to provide quality tourism services side by side to their safety and security.” The country also needs to exploit the potential of its trained human capital in the industry by giving the due attention to the sphere as of other fundamental economic sectors of the country, he stated.
All cultural and tourism institutions and media practitioners ought to advocate the country’s tourism potential across the world to provide entertaining and informative tourist services and to get the income needed from it, Sileshi underlined. According to Sileshi, Tourism Ethiopia is working to showcase practical form of country’s history that had been hosted in palace.
The Ethiopian Herald, January 28/2020
BY YOHANES JEMANEH
