Introducing Ethiopia’s historical, cultural and catchy spatial textures to the rest of the world is gaining momentum these days as the nation is relentlessly working to enlarge the tourism sector. Yes, intensifying tourist destinations in Ethiopia attracts due attention and it has been proved that the tourism sector is playing a range of roles across the nation, among others, expanding investment, creating job opportunities, boosting national image as well as supporting economic growth.
Cognizant of all this fact, the Ethiopia government has been implementing a number of remarkable projects to make nation’s vision a reality. Tourism expansion can thus be carried out by implementing complementary axes— including widening the sector to provide the population with access to tourist practices, booming businesses by broadening spatial scope of activities and intensifying the diffusion of tourist attraction sites. Ethiopia has now been seizing the right direction for growth and real change via properly and effectively employing what it has had a hand—untapped tourism potential.
The recently inaugurated Gorgora Eco Resort, which is part of the ‘Dine for the nation,’ initiative can be cited as an exemplary move. As one of the outstanding tourism projects, the Gorgora Eco Resort has the potential of creating a number of jobs, contributing its share to the effort geared towards changing national image thereby making great contribution to economic advancement, and so do have others.
Since Ethiopia’s unique and mesmerizing tourism attractions have never been adequately tapped due to lack of infrastructures and other related facilities, engagement of the general public in financing the colossal projects like the aforesaid one has to be well underlined. The ongoing extensive efforts to address the limitations and foster the development of the tourism sector have to be well reinvigorated and lessons need to be drawn to other sectors as the cumulative effect of all helps the nation bring about actual change. Mobilizing the public has to be given due emphasis, too, so as to well spearhead all the national initiatives.
The inauguration of the Resort is of paramount impotence in boosting the overall change the nation has been aspiring for long as for it would be instrumental in creating jobs, strengthening the local economy, contributing a lot to conserve the natural environment and cultural assets. This in turn would make huge contribution to reduce poverty and disproportion—an audible national agendum.
True, the expansion of tourism destinations opens the door to an increase in tourist visits by adopting modern technology and eco-friendly engagements. Interestingly, the rapid expansion of tourist spaces in Ethiopia has been enabled the nation to record various remarkable social, economic and even political scores.
Lucidly, tourism is an impetus to promoting economic growth from perspectives of its economic impacts, contributions to poverty reduction, the efficiency and productivity, and impacts of several external economic factors. To achieve this, labor, capital, technology, environment and pubic mobilization have to be focused on more than ever before. This means, whenever grand projects are thought, the public has to be well aware of their essence these national projects for dual benefits. First, to help the society develop keen interest in financially backing the effort of the government to successfully accomplish the projects and help them develop sense of belongingness in a bid to ensure project sustainability.
In a nutshell, the proper implementation of projects as per the required standard reflects that the country has reliable capacity in terms of project management, the presence of national potential to have better future employment and well expands the tourism sector in the years to come. Hence, some policy considerations need to be proposed to promote tourism development, reduce poverty, improve tourism efficiency, and strengthen tourism competitiveness at regional, continental and global levels.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 16 JULY 2024
