Factors Affecting Development of Tourism in Oromia Rift Valley Lakes Area

Abstract

The Oromia Rift Valley Lakes is a section of Ethiopian Rift Valley System that forms a significant Economic Segment of the Region and supports the livelihoods of hundred thousands of people and domestic stocks. It has a huge natural resource base that can be described in terms of its Wild life, Biodiversity, Water /Wetland, Natural, Historical and Cultural resources. Survey questionnaires, Focus Group Discussion, Observation, Key informant and Literature Reviews were employed to collect primary and secondary data. Five Peasant Associations were selected out of 18 Peasant Associations, adjacent to the study area using purposive sampling. Then after questionnaires & interviews were employed to collect data from 164 House Holds out of 1633 House Holds by systematic sampling, 10 hotels & lodges with a total target of 146 people from all lakes, 133 tourists, 32 tour guides, 32 tour operators which were selected by random sampling. On the other hand, literature review & secondary data was collected from Oromia Bureau of Agriculture & Rural Development, Culture and Tourism offices at different administration levels, Ethiopia Wildlife Protection & Conservation Agency, Oromia Culture and Tourism Bureau, Abijata-Shalla Lakes National Park & Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Abijata-Shalla Lakes National Park was proposed as a national park in 1970 and since then existed largely as "A Paper Park”, meaning a protected area in name only. Because of some periods of conflict, famine, and government instability over the last Forty (40) years and other barriers, the tourism potential for this park is not properly utilized. The water level of Lake Abijata & Shalla has been dropped, biodiversity in the park diminished, forests for Eco-system have been converted in to farm, as a result the country has lost a great deal of foreign earning that should have come from tourism sector. The lake is the home of more than 450 species of birds, 76 species of mammals & two vegetation type native to the destination. At the same time, due to lack of tourism development program and implementation, the rise of small & large holder irrigation scheme by private & government in & around Lake Zeway, even with no further development of irrigation scheme may dry up Lake Abijata & Zeway in the next 20 to 30 years. Similarly, due to several factors i.e. inadequate tourist facilities, market branding & promotion problem in Oromia Rift Valley Lakes, lack of consolidated tourist information system, less effort on coordination and joint planning among different stakeholders, the deep rooted negative image of 1984 great famine in Ethiopia and the horn of Africa as an area of instability & terrorism and other pertinent factors, Lake Langano was not properly used for tourism. Therefore, this research report attempted to consolidate factors affecting tourism Development in Oromia Rift Valley Lakes and analyzed it for management consideration of the Lakes.