Ministry of Tourism announced that more than 770,000 tourists have visited Ethiopia in the past nine months, following the signing of the Pretoria peace agreement.
The ministry stated that the number of tourists has shown a significant increase as compared to same period last year due to the peace agreement signed in Pretoria to end the two-year long war in the northern part of the country.
Ethiopia’s tourism sector has been stagnant over the past years due to natural and man-made shocks, including war and the COVID-19 epidemic.
As a result, there has been a decline in income to service providers in the sector, a decrease in the number of visitors and other problems have negatively impacted the country.
Tourism State Minister Selamawit Dawit told ENA that the challenges faced by the sector prevented foreign nationals from coming to Ethiopia and restricted foreign currency flow.
In particular, the war in northern Ethiopia not only had a negative impact on the country, but also put pressure on job opportunities in the sector.
The peace agreement is therefore a big step that revived the weakened tourism sector and tourist inflow, she said.
The state minster pointed out that the ministry seized this opportunity to revive and promote the sector so that visitors can come to Ethiopia.
“After the peace agreement was reached, we made a great effort to show that there is peace so that the market, especially domestic tourism, can improve. We can see that there is now a situation where tourists are motivated to come and tour operators eager to sell their packages to international tourists in confidence. Therefore, the peace agreement does not have an easy meaning.”
According to her, the flow of domestic and foreign visitors has improved significantly due to the efforts of the service providers and the ministry.
The land and air transport that has started in the northern part of the country will also help to strengthen the flow of tourism, the state minister noted.
Selamawit said that the ministry is working with Tigray Region Interim Administration to promote tourism in the region and sell service packages.
She added that maintaining the tourism sector in a sustainable and effective manner requires comprehensive cooperation.
Source: Ethiopian News Agency