Ethiopian Millennium Tourism Goals

It is anticipated that the number of visitors to Ethiopia will double during the Millennium Celebration Period (EC 2000/2001) Preparations now being made to accommodate this large influx of tourists and diaspora visitors represent an opportunity to display Ethiopia's extraordinary range of attractions to a world always thirsting for new destinations. The challenge will be to choose wisely among the many projects those that will both satisfy immediate needs and at the same time improve critical areas of infrastructure for the long term.

It is important to remember that the goal of a tourism industry should not be simply to attract foreign visitors and make gains in foreign exchange. "Tourism" means travel to learn how a country looks and feels, how its people live in different regions, and how it fits into the modern world as well as its past history and accomplishments of its people. Often domestic tourism develops out of foreign tourism, helping different regions of a country to make mutually beneficial connections.

Experience and studies in many countries have shown that a well-planned tourism industry sensitive to local conditions and traditions has opened the way to advances in social and economic well-being of countries with inadequate natural resources to sustain large manufacturing and commercial enterprises.

Historical perspective:

During the late imperial period Ethiopia experienced a good beginning in tourism development under the leadership of Habte Selassie Tafessa. Both the government and private entrepreneurs became active. Almost all these initial gains were lost during the 17 years of the Derg in spite of its repeated efforts to attract tourists in order to earn foreign exchange. Since 1991 tourism has slowly revived and commendable effort has been made by the Federal Government and some regional governments to promote it. Many factors are now contributing to better preconditions for tourism:

a. The steadily improving economy.

b. Great advances in communications.

c. Impressive improvements in highways.

d. Expansion in hotels and restaurants.

e. Simplified visa, customs and money-exchange procedures.

These gains notwithstanding, many shortcomings remain. In general emphasis on promotion has been greater than emphasis on improving performance. At present the capacity of the country to receive and handle tourists is approaching a saturation point. If tourists who come to Ethiopia experience frustrations and problems, word will rapidly spread that Ethiopia is a difficult country for visitors. The best publicity for tourism is satisfied tourists who depart ready to tell others of their good experience while thinking themselves of returning again. To deal with a significant expansion in tourism several initiatives are advisable:

Priority Initiatives:

Air Service:

Ethiopia is a big country. Most foreign tourists and diaspora visitors will continue to arrive by air and many will make use of internal air services. Airlines serving Ethiopia can be relied on to expand service to the country if there is demand from passengers. Internally, however, Ethiopian Airlines is already unable to provide the dependable service tour operators and individual travelers need. Too frequently domestic air travelers find their itineraries disrupted. A logical solution, in keeping with the experience of other countries: more domestic airlines. Private airlines should be permitted and encouraged to operate where demand is greatest. Ethiopian Airlines no longer needs a monopoly. Its service will improve if it has competition. Expanded domestic air service is important not only for the sake of tourism, but to serve the expanding needs of government, business and development officials.

Hotel Expansion and Management:

New hotels have been built steadily since 1991 in both Addis Ababa and most parts of the country. Twenty-four are said to be under construction in Addis Ababa now. These will serve many needs other than tourism. Often provincial hotels are social centers for a community. Design and quality are spotty. Federal and regional guidance and supervision have been erratic. Classification is largely a matter of self-definition. Ethiopia has little need, outside the capital, of so-called 5-star hotels with swimming pools, tennis courts, exercise rooms and luxurious furnishings. If tourism expands as anticipated, it would be advisable to design some hotels for group occupancy and short-term stays, based on road accessibility and travel time between sites of interest. What tourists, other visitors and travelers need are hotels with

a. clean, elementary accommodations.

b. functioning bathrooms.

c. bed- and room-lights strong enough to enable people to read guidebooks and other material in the evening.

d. access in-house or nearby to simple breakfast and basic food and drink.

e. easy-to-use telephone service; where possible internet access.

f. attractive surroundings; freedom from noise.

Derg nationalization of hotels produced a cumbersome and inefficient system of government management. Privatization since 1991 of most of the hotels included in this system has been slow. Thus many have deteriorated and seldom operate at a profit. They are losing business to newly built private hotels. The best of the hotels designed in the late imperial period--Yeha at Aksum, Roha at Lalibela, Goha at Gondar, etc.--are still worth rescuing and upgrading, as are hotels such as the Ghion and Wabe Shebelle in Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia needs a country-wide system for classifying, rating and periodically inspecting hotels to ensure that they meet acceptable standards and levels of performance. Those that do should receive a placque to be displayed at their entrance.

Credit Cards:Ethiopia lags badly in use of credit cards which have become almost universal in all parts of the world, including ex-communist countries. They are not only convenient for visitors; they also simplify business practices. They are a good source of auxiliary income for banks.

Standards of Performance for Tour Agencies:

Without creating unnecessary bureaucracy or burdensome regulations (which might only encourage corruption), tour organizations should be subject to periodic evaluation to ensure minimal standards of service, honesty and efficiency. A system of awarding ratings to tour agencies for good performance should be considered.

Public Behavior:

Ethiopians are naturally polite and hospitable, but the behavior of idle people, especially children and adolescents, at most tourist sites is often atrocious. This creates an indelibly negative impression of the country. Children begging for pens and money and shouting "you-you" at visitors should be educated into welcoming and helpful behavior. The same applies to beggars, peddlers, newsboys and people hawking goods or services. A nationwide campaign to encourage respectful behavior needs to be undertaken with local authorities, church officials and schools enlisted to discourage behavior that reflects badly on the country.

Guides and Guidebooks:

The quality of personnel in the tourism industry is spotty and needs to be upgraded. Programs for training guides and service personnel, including those employed by hotels, need to be expanded and improved.

The same is true of literature available to tourists. Quality guidebooks and books on Ethiopian culture and history need to be made widely available for sale at hotels and major tourist sites. This can be a profitable undertaking for private entrepreneurs. Regional and local authorities should be encouraged to produce brochures and maps on places of interest and given assistance in improving language and accuracy of information.

Several good general guidebooks on Ethiopia have been published by foreign publishers in recent years. Quality varies, but most of them are adequate and revisions may improve them. It should not be necessary for the Federal Tourism Commission to try to publish or subsidize general guidebooks. Attractive promotional brochures that could be made available to Ethiopian embassies for distribution abroad are desirable. A priority need is an accurate, up-to-date, road map of Ethiopia and a general brochure with basic information for visitors: key statistics, customs regulations, money-exchanging procedures, etc. The Federal Tourism Commission should concentrate effort on encouraging and assisting regional authorities and specialized agencies (those supervising national parks, wildlife, and forests, e.g.) in producing promotional material relating to their areas of responsibility.

NGOs and Cultural Organizations:

NGOs with capabilities for supporting tourism should be drawn into the process of improving services for visitors and providing expertise of use to government organizations promoting tourism and visitor services. The Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society brings together a substantial group of Ethiopian and foreign residents, as does the Ethiopian Horticultural Society. The National Museum, the Institute of Ethiopian Studies at Addis Ababa University (which is in charge of the Ethnographic Museum), and regional museums in various parts of the country can offer both ideas and services to aid tourist development and reception of visitors. Ethiopia's universities can play an important role in serving the needs of an expanding tourism industry.

Religious Authorities:

The Administration of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church has an important role to play in tourism development and servicing of visitors and has begun to do so. Major religious sites on the Historic Route as well as less frequently visited churches and monasteries are of great interest to tourists whose visits to them can be made more interesting and satisfying. The system which has been put into effect in most of northern Ethiopia for charging set entrance fees regularizes fees and eliminates hassling over visiting religious sites and viewing historical and religious treasures. It is operating somewhat erratically at the present time. The Patriarchate Museum in Addis Ababa is potentially of great interest to visitors of all kinds.

One of the more interesting ideas that has developed recently is the concept of a Muslim Historic Route where visitors would be taken to major sites of importance in the history of Islam in Ethiopia. It could include sites such as Sof Omar and Sheikh Hussein in Bale, the tomb of Abu Buqra at Asasa in Arsi, Oromo tombs in Bale, Arsi and Shoa, the great city olf Harar and the whole surrounding region, archaeological sites along the escarpment and Argobba villages, Muslim historic sites in Wollo and, finally, the tombs of the first Muslims at Negash in Tigray. Muslim leaders should be encouraged to consider arrangements for visitors at these and other sites and to prepare material on the history of Islam in Ethiopia. This will be of special interest to tourists from Muslim countries (such as Turkey and nearby Arab states) who represent a potential which should not be neglected in tourism planning, as well as to Muslim inhabitants of various parts of Ethiopia.

Ecotourism:

Ecotourism is in its infancy in Ethiopia. There are already good initial developments in the Semyens, the Bale Mountains, the Afar area and the Rift Valley lakes. The Omo region and related areas of the Southwest already attract substantial numbers of visitors, both foreign and domestic for what can, at least in part, be regarded as ecotourism. Many other kinds of ecotourism offer promising potential: mountain-climbing, trekking, wildlife viewing, bird-watching, observation of unique flora indigenous only to Ethiopia, geological phenomena. A separate paper I am preparing for presentation at the upcoming Adwa conference organized by the Institute of Development Research at Addis Ababa University will focus on this subject.

Paul B. Henze
Washington, VA
8 January 2007

The Author has been traveling in Ethiopia for more than 40 years. He published Ethiopian Journeys, 1969-72, Ernest Benn, London, 1977, now going into its third edition with Shama Books, Addis Ababa. His history of Ethiopia, Layers of Time, will appear again shortly in a Millennium Edition to be published by Shama. He is working on a new travel book, Mountains and Monasteries.