BY WOSSENSEGED ASSEFA
Every year on January 19 the Ethiopian streets are flooded with people wearing “netela”, a traditional semi-transparent cloth worn for holidays, in combination with traditional Ethiopian clothes. January 19 is the day known as Timket/Epiphany/ in Ethiopia.
Timket is a colorful holiday celebrating the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan some two thousand years ago. Timket is also one of the holidays listed as an intangible heritage under UNESCO’s cultural heritage list. This holiday is celebrated throughout the country; however, many believe that Gondar hosts the best experience.
This year, hundreds of thousands of people have taken part in the holiday in Gondar generating hundreds of millions in revenue. This special event had been highly promoted by the bureau of culture and tourism of Gondar; a good proof to this would be the extent they went to advertise it to people using text messages in addition to radio and television advertisements.
By doing this, the City of Gondar has reaped many benefits and has shone a revealing light on why our country should work on developing the tourism sector.
Special holidays such as Timket have seen both international and domestic tourists flock in large numbers to tourist sites such as Gondar creating an economic opportunity for the local population.
Exploiting the opportunities that days like Timket bring is to be expected from us, however, we should work on a framework that allows tourism to become a 24/7 365 days a year opportunity.
Naturally the tourism sector is subject to a range of global influences and events that can have an impact on its stability. These external factors occur outside the sector’s direct control however, they can present strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for growth and development as well as stimulate strategic responses to counter possible threats.
The tourism sector can be divided into two; international and domestic tourism. In Ethiopia, it seems that the first is given more focus than the latter. However, the growth of domestic tourism is as important as the development of the international tourism for the tourism industry to grow in Ethiopia.
A developed domestic tourism can carry the weight of the tourism sector economically, especially in times of international uncertainties.
The question then becomes how can the domestic tourism industry develop and what steps can be taken to help it grow naturally? To answer these questions, we must first look at the obstacles that domestic tourism is facing in our country.
In recent years due to the development of infrastructure like roads and hotels and the crucial role of government marketing has increased heavily and changing the image of the country throughout the world.
But still, there is a long way ahead to exploit efficiently the benefits of tourism sector and secure its right position in the economic sector.. According to the World Bank, tourism in Ethiopia faces a combination of hard and soft infrastructure bottlenecks.
On top of that, there is a negative image of Ethiopia that is persistent because of lack of marketing and destination branding and continuous instabilities. There is also a lack of a culture of travel among domestic inhabitants. Although domestic tourism faces these problems and many more there are effective ways to deal with them.
The first part of the whole solution is building infrastructure that can host the daily flocks of tourists to major tourist sites.
The World Bank sets the institution of an effective platform for vertical and horizontal integration between the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MoCT) and infrastructure-related ministries (roads, telecommunications, and finance), and the exploration of innovative partnerships with the private sector as strategic interventions for the infrastructure bottlenecks the tourism sector is facing.
In regards to the persistent negative image Ethiopia has The World Bank points out that marketing and destination branding is currently not receiving enough attention, and that strategic partnership with and direct involvement by the private sector, as well as a parallel and complementary domestic campaign to raise tourism awareness is essential.
Another strategic application that could help domestic tourism develop is by creating a culture of tour and travel in the country. This can be done by developing and implementing tourism awareness-education programs/campaigns.
In Ethiopia, there are about thirty million students. By introducing the culture of tourism to these students through means like local clubs, funding and tourism awareness campaigns, MoCT can help facilitate the development of a culture of tour and travel among the youth.
These strategies obviously take time, money and energy nevertheless the benefits that will be reaped will make the sowing process seem infinitesimal. The first and most apparent benefit is economic.
A strong tourism sector backed up by domestic tourism is a source of income for many and can generate income in billions. The wider the sector becomes the more jobs it creates.
While domestic tourism serves as a backbone for the Ethiopian tourism sector the international tourism can help haul in millions in foreign currency.
In addition, a developed domestic and international tourism sector can have an indirect impact and multiple contributions towards the development and expansion of various economic sectors and activities.
Meaning, tourism’s role in serving as a catalyst for the development of other economic sectors such as agriculture, entrepreneurial activities, construction, entertainment, infrastructure and contribution to local and regional development (WTO).
The second benefit with a developed domestic tourism sector is the enhancement in the understanding of people in regards to their culture.
For example, the students mentioned earlier can become more open-minded by travelling in their country and experiencing the lives of people that share the same nationality with them but live completely different lives from them.
And as Marcel Proust explains, “the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscape but in having new eyes.” Apart from the economic benefit, a new generation with different eyes and a better understanding of citizens can be brought up by exposure to the different cultures in their country, and nothing can do that as well as traveling can.
As a student, I had read about the rock-hewn church of Lalibela, but I was honestly filled with awe and wonder only when I had a chance to visit the church a few years ago.
It overwhelmed me with a sense of respect for the culture and heritage my country carries. The same thing I felt can easily be felt by many citizens who visit wonders like these; whether they are man-made or natural. Through domestic tourism, a sense of respect for culture and heritage can be formed in the new generation.
Ethiopia has many tourist hotspots; from one of the highest mountains in Africa, Ras Dashen, to the lowest valleys of fuming fire in Erta Ale, to the man-made rock-hewn wonders of Lalibela.
The country isn’t short of natural or manmade wonders and can easily become one of the major tourist highlights in Africa.
Its many tourist attraction makes it easy for the country to have a daily tourist flow both from international and national origins.
The only thing left is to be responsible and sow the seeds while the time is right and reap the rewards in several folds.
The Ethiopian Herald January 28/2021
