BY MULUGETA GUDETA
The European New Year is celebrated in the midst of unprecedented cold and snow forcing millions of households to stay indoors hiding from the cold that sometimes hit as low as minus 45 degrees centigrade. Fortunately, millions of people are working from their homes, and this trend is increasingly becoming a work culture that started during the time of uncontrolled COVID pandemic and is refusing to away because working from the comfort of home has become the new trend as commuting is becoming less comfortable and more time consuming in Western societies.
On the contrary, in Africa and here in Ethiopia we are bracing for a new round of holidays in sunshine and warm weather. Ethiopian Christmas is knocking on the doors to be followed soon by the uniquely Ethiopian holiday of Timket or the feast of Baptism, an annual event directly based or inspired from Ethiopian the scriptures dating back to thousands of years. It is interesting to note that holidays both in the West and here in Africa have become a once in a year occasion for high intensity spending sprees, and consumer frenzy.
The situation in Africa and Ethiopia as well has drastically changed from what it used to be back in 1920 or 1922. The pandemic is abetting and peace is coming to Ethiopia following the recent agreement signed by the warring sides while tangible evidence of a return to normal life is emerging in places where war was, until recently a day to day reality. All conflicts are bound to end up in agreements sooner or later and give way to tangible hope of a better life.
The major economic winner from the end of the war in Tigray and Amahra regions is the tourism sector which is potentially the most formidable sector before the war in generating hard currency for local residents in the historic sites where foreign visitors are eager to see every year at this very time. The Christmas and New Year in the Western countries usually coincide with Christmas and Tmiket in Ethiopia that fall almost in the same months, January in the Western calendar and Tahisas-Tir in the Ethiopian calendar. Here culture and business are intertwined, the one impacting the other. While the cultural practices belong to the people, the business aspect of it is mainly reflected in the tourism activities that accompany these occasions.
What is attractive about Ethiopian ancient culture is that it is first dating back to thousands of years when most countries did not even come into existence and people were living in a state of primitiveness. Second, Ethiopian culture is unique in the world in the sense that it is original and not mixed with other foreign cultures because the country has kept its independence for many centuries. In the past, Ethiopia witnessed foreign invasions and even a brief Italian occupation but these occupiers had no time to impose their cultures on the people and constantly faced resistance wherever they set foot. This is a unique characteristic of the Ethiopian people who always had the vision and determination to keep themselves free from colonial and other forms of invasions.
These characteristics are very interesting to the foreign tourists for many reasons. Visiting Ethiopian exotic and ancient cultures is like going to see movies that are classic in nature and cannot bore the audience even if they are seen repeatedly. To the foreign tourist, visiting Ethiopia is more going to a movie hall to see a celebrated film because the pictures in the movies are made up or are fictional portraits of reality while the historic sites are tangible and can be seen as they are now or as they were in the past.
Modern tourism developed in Ethiopia very recently compared to the centuries old existence and survival of the Ethiopian polity. Although tourism is a relatively recent phenomenon, it has proved potentially lucrative. Cultural tourism is relatively more interesting than other features or aspects of tourism because it is a living proof of the vibrancy of the nation that has managed to keep its unity despite its immense diversity. Ethiopia is not a country where one or two cultures can be seen or visited by tourists. It is rather a mosaic of cultures that are even baffling to Ethiopians themselves due to their richness, their depth of significance and complexity. Cultural tourism in Ethiopia is not well developed in a strategically clear and planned manner. The tourism authorities should produce a master plan for promoting cultural tourism by stating clear objectives as well as by mobilizing the necessary resources for its promotion such as training of personnel and opening up new cultural tourism centers across the nation. Annual cultural celebrations like Timket should provide an ideal occasion for the tourism authorities in reassessing their priorities and charting new courses of action for the more dynamic promotion of the cultural tourism sub-sector. It is good to get increased revenue from tourism but income frome tourism can hardly rise in the long run unless the tourism =sector is expanded and modernized so that it can attract more visitors.
No wonder then that modern tourism in general and cultural tourism in particular has long become a huge business undertaking. Foreign tourists come to Ethiopia not only to see the ancient crafts and relics but to also buy cultural artifacts directly from those who produce them, that is to say from the craftsmen themselves. Modernizing tourism should therefore include providing opportunities for craftsmen to sell their artifacts or handicrafts. The tourism authorities should encourage and promote cultural tourism markets by providing supportive assistance to handicraftsmen who are particularly engaged in making cultural goods for tourist consumption. This may include opening up shops and market outlets in various tourist areas or sites or bringing isolated handicraftsmen into the mainstream market.
Cultural tourism expressed in the forms of traditional Ethiopian music and dances can also be used as major attractions during the holiday seasons when the flow foreign tourists is the highest. Thanks to great Ethiopian musicians like Mahletay Yared, the greatest church musician to Mulatu Astatke, the great modern Ethiopian composer , conductor and player, Ethiopian music has proved its potential for attracting international audiences.
This can be exploited by the tourism sector during the peak tourist season by organizing shows designed particularly to the festive seasons and offer it to the tourists who are eager to enjoy our music which is also part and parcel of the cultural wealth of humanity as a whole. There is indeed a great deal to be done in this area by establishing special departments entrusted with the task organizing shows particularly designed for tourists during the holiday seasons when the tourist flow reaches its peak.
Cultural tourism is not only a potentially high revenue earner. It is also a great tool of promoting Ethiopian diplomacy and building its image in the wider world. Cultural tourism has the potential for attracting foreigners so that they become interested in our food and drink and related cultures that have already earned the admiration of foreigners. What we need to do is built on this basis and modernize its forms if not its contents.
Most global conflicts emanate from the prevalence of a state of misunderstanding or ignorance among various cultures. Knowledge of peoples’ cultures has the potential of promoting better understanding and appreciation of their lives and aspirations and this could in turn promote peace and stability in their relations. Peace has obviously more value than money, gold or silver and as such cannot be estimated with material measurements.
Cultural tourism has also the potential for changing peoples’ perceptions from hostility and hatred to friendship and tolerance. We can see this from the recently concluded World cup soccer tournament in Qatar where the tourism authorities have succeeded in changing the global perception about Arab people and countries in general and Qatar and the Qataris in particular. Before the tournament, some media outlets portrayed Qatar and its people as probably backward, or unable to organize such a big tournament in a flawless manner. Now the Qataris have convinced the world that they are indeed talented people who can achieve what the Western world has not achieved in terms of civilian construction, technology and culture and they are duly proud of it. They have achieved a radical change of perceptions about their country and about their people through dedication and hard work.
Here in Ethiopia, we are sitting on an untouched wealth of cultural tourism attractions that we have hardly managed to use them to change the country’s image simply we are not working hard enough to achieve to promote cultural tourism and turn it into a tool of diplomatic rapprochement and mutual understanding with peoples of different cultures. It is possible to build or organize replicas of the tourist sites right here in Addis Ababa and the major cities and create festivals where tourists and other visitors can enjoy themselves while knowing the country and its people at the same time. AS we have seen it during thr Qatar world cup, modern tourism is about using technology to recreate new realities and give visitors the impression that they are visiting remote places without physically traveling to distant sites. There is a lot to be done to modernize the cultural and diplomatic tourism sectors with dedication, purpose and imagination and the time is not tomorrow to do these things but today and as soon as conditions are created for the realization of the ideals and objectives of modern tourism. The tourism officials should not only count the number of tourists who visit Ethiopia every year and the amount of money they collect from visitors which becoming a traditional way of measuring success in the sector. Nowadays growth should be measured with growth in infrastructure, modernization and diversification of the sector. Fortunately, this is achievable as other countries are doing it and what we have to do is learn from them and utilize the lesson in our specific contexts.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SPECIAL EDITION 1 JANUARY 2023
