BY MENGISTEAB TESHOME
Tourism is one of the largest and dynamically developing sectors of the world. Its high growth and development rates, considerable volumes of foreign currency inflows, infrastructure development, and introduction of new management and educational experience actively affect various sectors of economy, which positively contribute to the social and economic development of the country as a whole.
According to the World Tourism and Travel Council, tourism provides about 9.8 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) and 10 percent of the world’s income and 9.4 percent of employment worldwide, receipts account for a little over 5.7 percent of world export and 4.3 percent of total investment.
Many people emphasize the positive aspects of tourism as a source of foreign exchange, a way to balance foreign trade, an “industry without chimney”-in short, manna from heaven. The number of international arrivals increased from 25 million in 1950 to about 940 million, in 2010 and 1.14 billion in 2014 and visitor spending more than matched that growth. Visitors from emerging economies now represent a 46 present share of these international arrivals (up from 38 present in 2000), proving the growth and increased opportunities for travel from those in these new markets, as this same study stated.
Tourism is a fast growing and leading export economic sector internationally though the lion’s share goes to the developed hemisphere both in terms of arrival and corresponding receipt.
As Muluneh Matewos, Domestic Tourism Development Director with Ministry of Tourism and Culture noted, Ethiopia is endowed with many manmade and natural tourist destinations and the government is trying to develop them in ways to increase the number of domestic tourists so as to create job opportunities for citizens and increase sector’s socioeconomic returns.
As countries with greater population size have a bigger potential for the development of domestic tourism, the Ministry is working to translate the ascribed reality to the ground.
Ethiopia has over 80 different ethnic groups who have their own unique culture, history and natural endowments that can have greater economic and social benefits to destinations. However, many of the endowments are not yet explored well. The Ministry is working along with stakeholders to broaden the possibilities for developing domestic tourism, the Director added.
Compared with other countries, Ethiopia joined the sector very recently. It was somewhere in the second half of the twentieth century that the Imperial Government paid attention to this sector.
However, as far as domestic tourism development in the country is concerned, it was during the Dergue Regime that it has started to get attention. Hence, until 1974 domestic tourism was circulating only around the royal families, higher officers, rich aristocrats and, of course, foreign (expatriate) residents, in very small numbers going to certain resort places.
Recently, the country has formulated its first tourism development policy that was issued in 2009. One of the rationalities behind this policy is to guide the sector in broad based development framework. Hence, it is hoped that many changes will be seen ahead on the tourism industry of the country with proper implementation of the policy statements. It is even mentioned by many researchers that developing domestic tourism is crucial and can be taken as a basis to embark on international tourism.
The Ministry planned to mobilize over 28 million domestic tourists and secured 14 million in this Ethiopian budget year.
The Ministry is working to increase local tourists’ flow through coordinating with pertinent stakeholders.
As reports indicate and the experiences of many countries show, the value of domestic tourism is far greater than that of international tourism. Thus the Ministry works to broaden the base, he further noted
The Ethiopian Herald 20 March 2021
