BY TEWODROS KASSA
Ethiopians annually celebrate the colourful Genna, Ethiopian Christmas—Birth of Jesus Christ- and Timket (Baptism of Jesus Christ) in January while the Gregorian calendar based countries mark their New Year.
The festivals have been attracting numerous international tourists and turned as a peak season to the country’s largest number of tourists’ inflow.
Lalibela and Gonder towns are among the leading destinations where the two festivals are marked warmly and colourfully respectively. The festivals are colourfully celebrated in the areas added with wonderful cultural ceremonial process. The society gives a greater attention to these festivities in the area. Thus, numerous local and international tourists will have the opportunity to enjoy the wonderful ceremonial process taking place in the area.
Recently, the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) stated that it has been carrying out various activities to warmly welcome a lot of tourists and Ethiopian Diasporas community coming from various corners of the globe for Genna/Christmas and Timket/ Epiphany festivals.
Ministry Marketing and Promotion State Minister Selamawit Dawit told The Ethiopian Press Agency (EPA) that, the Ministry has been undertaking various activities such as promoting the tourism destinations to revive the tourism sector and is working hard to receive the Diaspora community to celebrate the two religious festivities.
As to her, the Ministry has made a package for the Diaspora community aiming at creating conducive environment to visit the tourist destinations via various friendly use platforms and tour packages.
“The Ministry always expects more tourist inflow during the Christmas (Genna) and Epiphany (Timeket) annual religions festivals following their winter vacation period. It means that the Christmas and Epiphany (Baptism) are the golden opportunities to develop the tourism sector, especially to back the former statuesque of the war affected areas,” she said.
She remembered that among others, the tourism sector has seriously impacted and stagnant by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and the northern parts of conflict over the past two plus years. However, the Ministry has expected over 100,000 Diasporas from the various areas of the world during the religions festivals, because the Cessation of Hostility Agreement (CoHA) signed between the Ethiopian Government and the TPLF as well as the reconstruction of the physical infrastructure are the crucial measures encouraging economic significance, reducing foreign exchange crunch and encouraging social interaction.
Furthermore, the Ministry has been working closely with states’ culture and tourism bureaus and other stakeholders to stimulate the tourism sector and ensure the Country’s benefit out of it, she noted.
Meanwhile, the Amhara State Culture and Tourism Bureau expressed its readiness to utilize the Christmas and Epiphany festivities that are set to be marked in Lalibela and Gondar towns to revive the war and COVID-19-impacted sector.
The Bureau Deputy Head Abay Mengiste said that consolidated efforts have been carried out to welcome over 750,000 tourists in Gondar and over 1.5 million in Lalibela. To make this real, the Bureau is working closely with various relevant stakeholders that help to make the festivities peaceful and vibrant.
Star-designated hotels, lodges, and other tourist attraction sites are fully ready to avail quality services to local and international guests at recommended prices and to make their stay in Gondar memorable. “The Bureau aims to capitalize on these festivities to enhance the flow of tourists and ease the sector’s glitch in the years to come.”
Different committees are set up to provide seamless services and amenities including water, electricity, security, and others to guests, he added.
The State’s Culture and Tourism Bureau announced that it has planned to generate over two billion Birr for 750,000 local and international tourists that are expected to take part in the state-level celebration of Ethiopian Christmas and Epiphany.
Preparation has been finalized to render quality services for guests that will flock to the historic towns of Lalibela and Gondar. Noting the flow of tourists was heavily impacted by the Corona virus pandemic and the conflict in North Ethiopia, he indicated the plan to capitalize the festivities to revive the sector.
Accordingly, various government agencies and utility providing institutions are working in unison to provide seamless services to the guests and to make their stay safe and memorable. Discussions were held with local youth, elderly and religious fathers for the successful conduct of festivities and professional tour operators and guides are ready to help the visitors. Training was also provided for volunteer youth.
Currently, apart from the hotel’s preparation, the main roads in Gondar are being decorating with different lights to create an atmosphere of festivity among the guests and residents.
A plan was set to collect significant amount of Birr from tourism activities in Gondar and the Bureau is tirelessly working to increase the number of tourists from 326,000 to 750,000 in the current fiscal year. The Town secured one billion Birr from the tourism sector in the last fiscal year.
As to him, ‘One household for one tourist’ platform was formed with a view to build the social bond between visitors and the local community in the religious heritages. Extensive activities have also been carried out to promote the State’s world famous tourist attraction sites including the UNESCO- inscribed Lalibela Rock Hewn churches. It was learnt that over a billion Birr was secured from 328,000 tourists who visited the Gondar Castle last year.
In cognizant of the growing tourism sector contributions to the national economy, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism had been taking various measures. Thus, the Ministry is working aggressively to promote the sector and fulfil international tourists’ luxurious touristic service demand.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 6 JANUARY 2023
