Three years ago, the new tourism brand of Ethiopia, Land of Origins, had been unveiled in public. The new tourism brand is believed to attract many more tourists to Ethiopia than ever before. This is because, at least once in a lifetime, all humanity will have a keen interest in coming to Ethiopia and visiting Lucy, who is the oldest hominid ever, discovere
Yes, Ethiopia is the land of origins. Apart from the discovery of Lucy’s fossils, Ethiopia has a number of notable hominid fossil finds relating human evolution and artifacts that could be dated back thousands of years.
Since its discovery in 1974, Lucy has been capturing the interests of world media, archaeologists and tourists and the like. Therefore, the newly introduced tourism brand is timely and appropriate. But, this destination branding has to be promoted in a professional and attractive manner than ever before.
More or less, all countries in the world have their own destination branding. In fact, most of the world top tourist destination countries change their destination branding in every four years or more. Thus, the nation needs to do same as well.
Undoubtedly, this new suave brand will play a big role in bolstering Ethiopia’s tourism industry so long as Ethiopian Tourism Organization (ETO) puts into effect the best marketing brand strategies in the world.
Apart from promoting the nation’s tourism potentials using the new brand, manpower development in the tourism sector needs to be intensified with a view to satisfying the needs of the ever increasing number of tourists in the country.
From now on, having a large number of professional tour guides is a must. Before joining tour operator business, a given tour guide need to be familiarized with the new brand, plus s/he has to be good at marketing the brand. If a tour guide does not know why this suave new tourism brand is chosen, for sure, it will be a total disaster for such industry.
Of course, Ethiopia is blessed with enormous tourist attractions and historical sites. Moreover, the nation has a number of UNESCO registered heritages. It is crystal clear that these heritage sites are worth visiting by tourists. Hence, tour guides need to have basic knowledge about these heritages in a bid to guide tourists in a proper manner.
Those who own hotels, lodges, guest houses, resorts and others including all workers in such service businesses need to be capable enough to sell the new brand under any circumstances.
Indeed, the new tourism brand by itself tells the world that Ethiopia is a home for all humanity. In other words, it would give new impetus to the booming tourism industry of Ethiopia.
Frankly speaking, Ethiopians are one of the most hospitable peoples in the world. But, much is expected from the government and pertinent bodies to own numerous hospitable places and cities in the country.
Compared to the most top tourist destination countries in the world, the annual tourist influx in Ethiopia is insignificant. However, from time to time, the number of tourists that visit Ethiopia has shown a dramatic increase.
In general, apart from implementing the new tourism brand in all states of the country, Ethiopian Tourism Organization has to exert more efforts to promote Ethiopia’s tourist destinations and attractions with a view to making the new suave destination branding more effective and realistic.
Moreover, the nation has to keep on the ongoing constructions of new world class hotels all over the country.
The Ethiopian Herald July 9/2019
