Ethiopia wants India’s tourists

ADDIS ABABA: In yet another Ethiopia tourism ploy, the government is hopeful that it can begin to garner some of the 13 million Indians who travel abroad annually. They believe the future of Ethiopia’s economy could rest on the tourism sector and are beginning to make a push for the sub-continent.

“We believe that Indian tourists can be a huge success in Ethiopia. The weather is the same, but the people and culture are very unique,” a tourism ministry official told Bikyanews.com on Tuesday in explaining the campaigns.

He said that the East African country is to start pushing out its “Come, visit Ethiopia” themed campaign and will be sending it off to India for dissemination.

“India is a good source market for tourism now a days. More than 13 million people travel out of India every year. We also expect to have a good share of this market, even one or two per cent of this is significant for us,” said Genet Teshome, Consulate General of Ethiopia in Mumbai.

Teshome added, “We at trying our best to advertise Ethiopian destinations in India. We participated in a number of tour and travel exhibitions. Only this year we participated in Pune.”

And tour operators here in Addis Ababa are also hopeful, believing that the future of travel can be a great way for Ethiopia to move forward on economic gains.

“We might not be the wealthiest country out there, but we are a happy people and I think travel is great so this is a really smart move,” S. Haligni told Bikyanews.com.

For the government it is also a means of increasing diplomatic and economic ties with one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

Source: Bikyanews.com