Earnings from Tourism expected to reach $3 Billion by end of GTP

“Government to resolve tourism barriers”

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – The highly anticipated Ethiopian Public Private Consultative Forum (EPPCF) on the tourism sector heralding the motto ‘The Ethiopian Tourism Sector: Challenges and Recommendations,’ was convened on April 8 at the Sheraton Addis, in the presence of relevant government officials and representatives of the private sector.  The discussion at the forum raised issues concerning the significant challenges that the sector faced in regards to its development and recommendations on how to tackle these problems. It was fruitful in the sense that previous consultative forums had focused on other issues.

Individuals from the private sector, representing tour and travel operations, hotels and the hospitality industry in general, brought to the fore the problems they have come across and are still grappling with and expect the government to resolve. On the other hand, government officials, which were part of the forum, listened to the problems and recommendations offered from the other side and promised to address the issues raised on the day.

How to make Ethiopia one of the five major tourist destinations, increase tourism earning
Like similar events during the past, the forum commenced with a presentation that demonstrated the difficulties the sector was facing which needed to be addressed by the government and actors of the sector alike, and recommended solutions. Ethiopia is said to have the potential of becoming one of the major tourist destinations in the world, especially in three areas; cultural tourism, natural resources tourism, and business and conference tourism.

In the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP), the government has set a target to create 3 million new job opportunities, of which 1.8 million or 60% percent of the job is expected to arise out of the tourism sector alone. The number of tourists that are expected to visit is predicted to reach one million by the end of 2015, double that of 500,000 visitors which arrived in the country at the beginning of the GTP (2010).  Read more