Tourism Resources in Ethiopia: Huge Possession Versus under Utilization

Abstract

In the contemporary world of globalization, tourism industry which involves the movement of people and exchange of goods, services, ideas and experiences, has become the main  sources of foreign  earnings for different countries in the world. Ethiopia, with its exceptional natural beauty and cultural prosperity, has been identified to have considerable potential for tourism development. The three governments that  successively came to  power since the opening of  tourism organization in Ethiopia in the early 1960s made  efforts to use  the cultural, historical and natural heritages as source of foreign earnings through tourism  and to speed up national development. The governments took  various measures ranging from opening of a government institution in charge of regulating and managing tourism to developing tourism resources around tourist sites. Regardless of this effort, the tourism industry faced  various obstacles and challenges. This paper aimed at identifying the major challenges for the effective utilization of the immense tourism resource  of the country and highlighting the prospect for tourism development and indicate possible solutions to problems. To that end, secondary sources and primary materials including archives and other relevant reference materials were consulted. Knowledgeable informants who were serving at different levels and various institutions related to tourism industry were  also interviewed. Descriptive and historical research method was applied, and the data gathered was systematically organized, cross-checked and interpreted for its reliability before arriving at a final conclusion.