Tourism in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

accounted for 5.5% of the country's

gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performanc ...

(GDP) in 2006, having barely increased 2% over the previous year. The government is proving its commitment and willingness to develop tourism through a number of initiatives. Tourism is a featured component of Ethiopia's

Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) are documents required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank before a country can be considered for debt relief within the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. PRSPs are als ...

(PRSP), which aims to combat poverty and encourage economic development.

Overview

Tourist destinations include Ethiopia's collection of national parks (including

Semien Mountains National Park Simien Mountains National Park is the largest National parks in Ethiopia, national park in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, its territory covers the highest parts of the Simien Mountains and includes Ras Dasha ...

), and historic sites, such as the cities of

Axum Axum, also spelled Aksum (), is a town in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015). It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire. Axum is located in the Central Zone of the Tigray Re ...

Lalibela Lalibela () is a town in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Located in the Lasta district and North Wollo Zone, it is a tourist site for its famous rock-cut monolithic churches designed in contrast to the earlier monolithic churches in Ethiopia ...

and

Gondar Gondar, also spelled Gonder (Amharic: ጎንደር, ''Gonder'' or ''Gondär''; formerly , ''Gʷandar'' or ''Gʷender''), is a city and woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Lake Tana on ...

, Harar Jugol walled city, Negash Mosque, in

Negash Negash is a village in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia, which straddles the Ethiopian Highway 2, Adigrat to Mekelle road north of Wukro. It is located in Wukro (woreda), Wukro woreda. History Negash is considered to be the earliest Islam in ...

and

Sof Omar Caves Sof Omar Caves is the longest cave in Ethiopia at long. When surveyed in 1972, it was the longest cave in Africa. Since then explorations in Madagascar ( Marosakabe - 113km) and Algeria (Rhar Bou Ma’za - the Tafna River Cave 18.4 km) have ov ...

. Developed in the 1960s, tourism declined greatly during the later 1970s and the 1980s under the

Derg The Derg or Dergue (, ), officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military junta that ruled Ethiopia, including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when they formally "Civil government, civilianized" the ...

. Recovery began in the 1990s, but growth has been constrained by the lack of suitable hotels and other infrastructure, despite a boom in construction of small and medium-sized hotels and restaurants, and by the effects of drought and political instability. Rubaksa footbridge

One encouraging aspect is the growing popularity of

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...

, with significant potential for growth in Ethiopia. Travel retail sales are expected to continue to grow, posting an increase of 7% in 2006 and with a forecast 5% increase in 2007. Sales are driven primarily by expanding interest in ecotourism packages, including

adventure travel Adventure travel is a type of tourism, involving exploration or travel with a certain degree of risk (real or perceived), and which may require special skills and physical exertion. In the United States, adventure tourism has seen growth in l ...

trekking Backpacking is the outdoor recreation of carrying gear on one's back while hiking for more than a day. It is often an extended journey and may involve camping outdoors. In North America, tenting is common, where simple shelters and mountain hu ...

and walking safaris that are making up much of the tour operators' revenues.

World Heritage Sites

Ethiopia has the following nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites: * Ruins of Aksum * Rock-Hewn Churches at Lalibela *

Fasil Ghebbi The Fasil Ghebbi () is a fortress located in Gondar, Amhara Region, Ethiopia. It was founded in the 17th century by Emperor Fasilides and was the home of Ethiopian emperors. Its unique architecture shows diverse influences including Portugue ...

, Gondar Region * Harar Jugol, the Fortified Historic Town * Konso Cultural Landscape *Lower Valley of the Awash *Lower Valley of the

Omo Omo or OMO may refer to: Geography Ethiopia * Omo River (Ethiopia), in southern Ethiopia is the largest Ethiopian river outside the Nile Basin and namesake for all the topics below * Omo Nada, one of the woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia ...

Tiya Tiya is a town in central Ethiopia. It is situated in the Gurage Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region south of Addis Ababa. It is also the location of the Tiya archaeological site, famous for its unique stelae. Demog ...

Simien Mountains National Park Simien Mountains National Park is the largest national park in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, its territory covers the highest parts of the Simien Mountains and includes Ras Dashan, the highest point in Ethi ...

Gedeo Cultural Landscape The Gedeo Cultural Landscape is a region of the Gedeo Zone, part of the South Ethiopia Regional State in south-central Ethiopia. It stretches across the eastern flank of the Main Ethiopian Rift, ranging from above sea level. The region is home t ...

Millennium pageant controversy

September 12, 2007 marked the beginning of the year 2000 in the

Ethiopian calendar The Ethiopian calendar (; ; ), or Geʽez calendar (Geʽez: ; Tigrinya: , ) is the official state civil calendar of Ethiopia and serves as an unofficial customary cultural calendar in Eritrea, and among Ethiopians and Eritreans in the dia ...

. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism was embroiled in a controversy surrounding a beauty pageant in celebration of the Ethiopian Millennium. Allegedly the ministry failed to pay for promotional services from a UK based company for the Ethiopian Millennium, and is being sued for US$1 Million in the British courts.

References

External links

{{Ethiopia topics

Overview

World Heritage Sites

Millennium pageant controversy

See also

References

External links