ADDIS ABABA, (FBC/ ENA) – Over 2.5 billion USD toursim revenue has been obtained during the past nine months in Ethiopia, Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced.
While presenting Ministry’s nine-month performance report to the Parliament, Minister Dr. Hirut Kassaw said that over 500,000 foregin tourists visited Ethiopia’s tourist destination areas. In the reported period, over 23 million local visitors have also moved to attraction sites, she added.
Accordingly, the country secured a total of 2.57 billion USD by providing various services, she indicated.
The Minister further said that restoration and renovation works on Axum Obelisk, Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela and Jimma Aba Jifar Palace will commence soon.
Necessary documents were also sent to register Dirre Sheik Hussein and Sof Omar Cave as well as Ashenda( girls and young women’s festival) in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) list of cultural heritage, she added.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s travel and tourism economy grew by 48.6 percent in 2018, the largest of any country in the world, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council’s (WTTC) annual review of the economic impact and social importance of the sector released on Tuesday.
In 2018, travel and tourism reportedly contributed 7.4 billion USD to the country’s economy, an increase of 2.2 billion USD in 2017. The sector now represents 9.4 percent of Ethiopia’s total economy.
The WTTC research which compares the travel and tourism sector across 185 countries, shows that in 2018 the Ethiopian Travel and Tourism sector significantly outpaced the global growth rate of 3.9 percent , the African growth rate of 5.6 percent.
It supported 2.2 million jobs or 8.3 percent of total employment and was primarily driven by leisure travelers. Some 79 percent of the travel and tourism spending was generated by leisure visitors and 21% from business travelers.
The country’s tourism and travel strongly weighted towards international travel: 77 percent of the travel and tourism spending came from international travelers and 23% from domestic travel, it was reported.
Commenting on the numbers, Gloria Guevara, WTTC President and CEO said: “Ethiopia’s travel and tourism boom was one of the great success stories of 2018. It has exceeded our sector’s global and regional comparisons to record the highest level of growth of any country in 2018. This has been driven by the very strong performance of aviation in the country and the development of Addis Ababa as a dynamic and growing regional hub.”
She further stated that “travel and tourism in Ethiopia now accounts for one in every eleven dollars in the entire economy and one in 12 of all jobs. I would like to acknowledge the work of the Ethiopian Government, under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and the country’s commitment to the power of travel and tourism to drive economic growth, job creation and social enhancement.”
The Ethiopian Herald April 18, 2019
BY TSEGAYE TILAHUN
