Today’s exclusive Colum guest goes by the name of Dr. Ayalew Sisay, former Addis Ababa Tourism Commission Commissioner. He has still been working hard on the area in various higher learning institutions. He leaves no stone unturned to take the Ethiopian tourism industry to a higher stage.
By the same token, he is optimistic enough concerning the issue of tourism and eager to push his county to a new level of success no matter what the cost may be. He has been working as well as promoting Tourism since 1988.
Yesterday morning, The Ethiopian Herald had a short stay with this renowned tourism expert. He has expressed a range of mesmerizing ideas, thoughts, and feelings revolving around the inside out of the tourism sector.
Enjoy reading.
Can the Ethiopian tourism journey be explained in brief?
We are short of time to exhaustively put across the whole lot regarding the tourism journey of the country. To the best of my knowledge, I would say, nowadays, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has its reviving plan with a view to scaling up the tourism sector in the length and breadth of the country.
As far as I know, the tourism sector these days is well structured regionally and at the federal level. Furthermore, the country is at present well eyeing at the tourism and all concerned are working hand-in-glove as well as by the sweat of their brows targeting at promoting Ethiopian tourism. As a result, they have been strongly promoting Ethiopia despite the COVID-19 impact.
There are several manifestations for this, of course. How all hotels and cars and planes are sanitized is a case in point in this regard. Many tourists have started flowing to Ethiopia following the successful tourism journey of the country.
Interestingly, Ethiopia has got a lot of tourist attractions in every nook and cranny of the nation. To mention but a few, Ethiopia is bedecked with manmade, natural, cultural, and other attention-grabbing attractions. Without any exaggeration, Ethiopia is pretty untapped.
For that matter, we have to exert our utmost effort paying all potential cares even if the existence of COVID-19 has now imposed a great burden on the myriads of sectors. Likewise, taking the seriousness of the pandemic surfacing all over the country, all Ethiopians should be able to stick to the dos and don’ts stipulated by the Ministry of Health.
Would you mind explaining the contribution of Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed regarding the tourism sector?
Hadn’t it been the case of COVID-19, Ethiopia would have attracted quite a lot of tourists from different parts of the world and earned a great deal of foreign currency due to the newly set up eye-catching scenes such as Friendship Park and Entoto Park, and Sheger Park. Despite the pandemic burden, the effort of the Premier is a great contribution to the development of tourism, unquestionably.
At the time that I was the commissioner of Addis Ababa, I had a problem where to take tourists who came to Addis for a couple of days. They moved for an hour or so in Addis and required many more to see. Simply, there were challenges to host them as they demanded. In the first place, there were no enough places to take them to. Everything was not at our disposal.
Secondly, there were expatriated residents ( foreigners residing in Addis Ababa), when they wanted to refresh themselves and their children or their family, they used to go to Dubai, South Africa, Nairobi, and other places. Now we can detain these foreigners to enjoy staying in our country by providing them with a range of alternatives.
The Prime Minster planned to carry out a multitude of tasks at the national level. For instance, the projects commenced at Koysha, Gorgora, Wonchi, and others are the starting points for national tourism development. In the future, there will be many tourist attractions throughout the country as the promotion takes a top-down momentum. He is concerned about this tourism development and I am lucky enough to see all these facilities.
What should be done to take the industry to the next level of success?
There are so many ways. The problem is as I told you the COVID-19 pandemic. We have to design a special tour program and identity those people who are eager and capable of discharging responsibilities. First of all, we do not need any mass tourism because the policy itself pronounces a Sustainable Community-based Tourism Development. So, we have to make the community active participants as planners, implementers, and beneficiaries from the sector as such moves make the public develop a sense of ownership. Without the community developing tourism is unthinkable.
We have to raise public awareness about tourism and encourage people who are extremely interested to come to Ethiopia from different parts of the world. Sadly, we are sitting locally and want to promote our tourism from Ethiopia.
We have to have different offices in different countries like Kenya, South Africa, and so on. These countries for instance have tourist offices in different centers like in Rome, Paris, and London. But we are using the Ethiopian airlines. If the embassies are working hard, they can easily and properly reveal the real face of Ethiopia regarding the sector.
Similarly, there is no even tourism attaché as a political attaché representing Ethiopia. There must be a professional tourism man who is highly interested in developing tourism. That is also very important.
What do you think are potential tourist attraction areas in the country in general and in Addis Ababa in particular that need to be further developed?
Concerning Addis, it has been the leading beneficiaries of tourism because any tourist comes to Addis first and leaves from it, in due course of staying in it; the capital has ample opportunities to gain revenue.
Most of them pay city tours and stay more following the facilities undertaken within a short time. In so doing, tourists can stay more and the city can secure a great deal of foreign currency.
The more tourist stays in the capital, the higher its revenue would be. The number of dollars will increase accordingly, too. Concerning regions, tourists have been following the historic route in Tigray, Amhara, and Harari states. These parts of the nation have benefited from tourism more than the others. Now making diversification of tourism, instead of concentrating on the historic routes from Addis to Harar, needs to be the call of the day.
To diversify tourism to that extent, we have to have new facilities like Wonchi, Koysha, and Gorgora. Tourists would like to stay in various areas instead of staying in Gondar, and they want to stay at the lakeside in Gorgora. It is not a town, of course, it is a port, but with a clean, green plantation, edible fruits like mango, papaya, and others.
Besides, it is full of flowers. If it is developed following the plan, it will be scaled up to a town of itself and the water is really enjoyable. Moreover, there are a number of monasteries that had not been visited by tourists so far because the latter pay homage to monasteries very near to Bahir Dar, but those areas near Gorgora like Mandaba, Birgida and monasteries like Gelila have never been visited. If the project tempo keeps at the same rate, tourists could have ample chances to visit these areas and stay for many days provided that the facility is wonderful. We should earnestly take care of tourists who come to Ethiopia as they pave the way for others to enjoy paying homage to Ethiopia.
Can we conclude that the future of the Ethiopian tourism industry is rosy?
I am always an optimist about tourism. I always say tourism will be the bread baking oven. Following those who say tourism is a smokeless industry comparing with the heavy industries, we can’t conclude that it is a smokeless industry. Instead, I would rather say tourism is an invisible export. Ethiopia is rich in tourism and if we attract 60 million tourists a year, for instance, this is our optimism, imagine how many planes are going to be used.
Tourism would be, as I said earlier, a bread baking oven if we work hard and exploit our tangible and intangible heritages. I am dead sure tourism will help Ethiopia seize the ladder of success within the shortest time possible if we capitalize on it and well develop at the required level.
What is your contribution to tourism in Ethiopia so far?
Before citing my contribution to tourism, let me say something about the significance of the sector. Tourism is a foreign currency. It is contributing a lot to the development of the country better than other sectors such as the flower industry. It will rise our per capita income. Employment is one and the cardinal contribution of the sector.
As far as my contribution to tourism is concerned, tourism is always in my heart as Habteselassie Tafesse, the father of Ethiopian tourism said. I have felt the same. Tourism is in my blood. For instance, when the Ethiopian Government sent me overseas for education as a tourism student, I didn’t have any idea instead of promoting tourism being a tourism ambassador.
As of 1988, I have been a tourism advocator and ambassador too. I am always telling my students and the Ethiopian people about tourism, heritage, tourism attraction sites, the significance of establishing national parks, and the like.
Up to now, I have been talking, writing, and conveying crucial tourism messages to the general public.
And I have now so many supporters. I always promote tourism via school students, through radio, and different media outlets. I promote tourism, even explain its negative side, too as it is well known that everything has its own negative and positive sides.
What is expected of all walks of life to make our common agendum real – pushing the country steps forward?
Here, the role of the government comes at the forefront. And it has formulated a tourism policy and working hard to put the policy into effect to bring about change. It is a Sustainable Community-based Tourism Development policy. We have to make the community active participants in various aspects at the grassroots level ranging from the initiation to the proper implementation.
For instance, when we plan to set up a number of national parks, we have to thoroughly discuss the issue with the general public about the plan. We have to properly convey the message as, “This area is full of beautiful tourist attraction animals, catchy scene, and if we set up a national park here around, we can garner foreign currency for the country and benefit much out of it. Schools will be built, roads will also be constructed, water and electricity facilities will be available, citizens will get job opportunities at the constructed facilities, and in general, the benefit-sharing approach will be entertained.” They have to be told and persuaded like this.
If we entertain such an appealing fashion, tourism will be developed. If the public is convinced and let the national park be set up, they well-nurture the animals as they do for their pets and preserve the area responsibly. All will be the security guards of the national park. Doing this, we have inculcated a sense of belongingness in the minds of the society and gain the benefit in return, otherwise, without the active involvement of the general public, making any activity let alone tourism is going to be unthinkable.
If the government acts otherwise, the outcome will be devastating as residents will start to burn forests, kill endemic animals following lack of sense of belongingness, and developing hatred due to imposition.
Is there anything you would like to add finally?
My message to the general public is just to take care of our heritages be they are tangible or intangible, cultural, or other categories. We have to well nurture our national parks, and their beasts such as the Semien fox, Chilada baboon, Minilik’s Bush Buck, etc. to attract tourists. Besides, tourist attraction sites and other related facilities as well as manmade values like dressing styles, dinning mode, living styles, and others should be properly conserved.
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