Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) – Ethiopia has launched a tourism body to target a two-fold increment in the number of tourists visiting by 2015 and make the country one of Africa’s five top tourist destinations in five years.
The Ethiopian Tourism Organisation, created recently to market the East African nation as a leading tourist destination, is mandated to bring together government agencies and local businesses to create jobs.
“We will be proactive in the identification of the market opportunities and partnerships and we will search for innovative approaches to tourism development and marketing,” Solomon Tadesse, the ETO Chief Executive Officer, said during the launch of the organisation.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn called for the establishment of the tourism body in August 2013 through a Federal Regulation, which also set up the Tourism Board as a new institution to promote the country.
“It is not too late to establish this new entity. The setting up of such a particular agency has its particular reasons at this time,” Solomon said. “There was no infrastructure but now, we have the infrastructure.”
Ethiopia is counting on at least nine World Heritage Sites recognized by the UN Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO), the highest such concentration in any single African country, to attract visitors.
“It is time to work hard. We are projecting that we will become one of the top five tourist destinations in Africa in the next five years. We are realistic not to expect too much because you can only bite what you can chew,” Solomon added.
The UN Development Programme (UNDP), which has financed the initial setting up of the new entity, said Ethiopia’s huge potential as a tourism giant has not been fully exploited.
“Ethiopia’s potential and expectation has not yet translated into a thriving tourism industry and we are left to lament over the unfulfilled promise,” said Eugine Owusu, the UNDP Ethiopia Representative.
Ethiopia hopes to double the tourist arrivals by 1 million visitors every year and grow the average tourist spending from US$250 million to US$3 billion by 2015.
“When approached in a sustainable manner, it is true that tourism may not be a silver bullet to transform a country but it can help a country do a number of things. It can help grow and alleviate poverty,” Owusu said.
Ethiopia still needs to improve manpower in the tourism sector and build more world class hotels.
The country is also required to invest more in its wildlife parks to attract more visitors while sustaining the investments in the hotel sector.
