Ethiopian region looks to develop tourism

Oromia in Ethiopia has several lakes within the Ethiopian Rift Valley, including Lake Wonchi which was chosen as the best tourist village of 2021 by the World Tourism Organization. The region is also home to various wild animals, including mountain nyala, which is not only endemic to Ethiopia but has the distinction of being the last large antelope described in Africa, according to information obtained on the tourism commission's website.

The East African country, endowed with natural, historical and cultural heritage, recently showed its interest in boosting its partnership with China in the tourism sector as part of a wider 10-year development plan.

Ethiopia earned $157 million from 41,837 Chinese visitors in 2019.The Chinese people came to the country for a range of purposes such as conferences, business trips and seeking leisure.

Over the past few years, Ethiopia's tourism sector has suffered from recurrent conflicts, which were exacerbated by the socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of the current national push to attract Chinese and other foreign tourists, the country last week held the Tourism and Technology Week that envisaged creating a policy-discussion platform for tourism-related issues, enhancing networking opportunities for tourism digital champions and innovators, as well as bringing together partners in the tourism sector. Experts and policymakers who attended the event called for concerted efforts to harness Ethiopia's untapped potential in the tourism sector. According to the organizers, with the advent of technological advancements and rapid digitalization, all travel companies have shunned geographical barriers and are adopting online methods to approach their clients. The lack of finance, high training costs, the rapid pace of technological change, and the cost of high-speed broadband, however, are some major obstacles to further the implementation of digital technology in tourism, they said.