Tourism, the smokeless industry, has not yet been well exploited in Ethiopia proportionally to its tangible and intangible heritages though promising undertakings are underway to beef up the industry. Basically, making Ethiopia to be the most preferable tourism destination is easy since everything is available at hand in abundance. What matters here is coordinating efforts and helping the nation reap the benefits of its resources.
A number of media outlets across the globe have been witnessing Ethiopia’s potential for tourism industry. Most of them even acknowledge its sustainable potential even in the post COVID-19 era. The idea of Forbes Magazine is a case in point in this regard. It has recently forecast that Ethiopia will become one of the major tourist attraction sites or best destinations in the world even in post COVID-19 era.
Out of the 54 nations that make up Africa, one can argue that Ethiopia has the most fascinating historic background as it was the second civilization on earth to adopt Christianity, the only African nation to defeat a European power in different battle fields and resist colonialism during the Scramble for Africa. It is also believed that our earliest human ancestors originated from this fertile region, the magazine stated.
As to the source, visitors to this unique country can find a truly diverse scope of natural beauty for a number of reasons: the western edges of the country are home to lush rainforest, which quickly gives way to the towering peaks of the Ethiopian highlands as one ventures east; the rich history and spectacular natural sites in Ethiopia like the national cuisine-eating Injera using hand and other cultural experiences have a potential to attract more tourists to the country and many others make the country a preferred site even after the pandemic.
Sileshi Girma, CEO of Tourism Ethiopia, said that as tourism is one of the highly affected sectors and services by the pandemic, it needs to be provided with different supports like loan pay extension since different hotels across the nation have an obligation to pay 4 billion Birr bank loan every year and it is difficult to discharge it this time.
Hotels could hardly pay salaries for employees unless they are backed, what the Ministry of Finance has been working to enable some 130 star hotels to pay salaries for 12,000 employees in Addis Ababa alone needs to be consolidated and exercised in other parts of the country, too, he added.
Not only needs the service sector support from government financial institutions and non-governmental organizations but tour operators also require similar assistance from these bodies.
Taking the challenges the COVID-19 imposes on the tourism and service sector into account, he said, Tourism Ethiopia has been working to develop national tourism marketing and destination via rebranding the sector. It has been preparing new tourism branding package and marketing strategies in collaborate with stakeholders to revive the sector.
Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed also said that though the sector is highly adversely affected by the pandemic, the country has immeasurable manmade and natural opportunities to be the most world tourism destinations. The Unity Park the recently launched projects in Addis Ababa like Entoto and Sheger River Side can serve as the most urban tourism destinations at a continent level, he added.
Besides, he added, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam after being filled will also be a great tourist attraction site. Not only will the aforesaid projects but also the development of Konta and Zage can be world brand tourist destinations; but these and the others have not yet mentioned ones across the nation have not received due attention as required, he said. We all can make our country the most tourism hub as reported by different national and international media outlets through strengthening the launched projects.
The Ethiopian herald June 10,2020
BY TAMERU REGASA
