Ethiopia: Tourist Destination that Can Compel More

The “Land of Origins” was the successor to the inspirational “13 Months of Sunshine” slogan of nearly half a century, changed in 2016 by the Ethiopian Tourism Organisation (ETO). Almost two years later, one can question how significant the repositioning of the Ethiopian brand has influenced tourism in the country.

Ethiopia, a country rich in culture, history, and breathtaking attractions should be at the forefront of African tourism. However, the nation is still struggling behind its African counterparts – specifically Morocco and South Africa – who are consistently attracting nearly 10 million visitors a year.

Ethiopia welcomed over 886,000 travellers last year, a slight decrease from the 900,000 tourists recorded in the previous year, according to the Ministry of Culture & Tourism (MoCT). However, only 14pc of this year’s tourists visited for leisure. Inbound leisure travel was severely impacted by the 10-month long State of Emergency when several embassies issued travel warnings to Ethiopia.

Despite these figures, it is essential to determine and clarify how many visitors are “genuine” tourists. It is known amongst tour operators that few travellers visit the Northern or Southern tourism circuits, but spend most of their time in Addis Abeba on business.

The UN’s World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) loosely defines tourism as “the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes.”

Therefore, this definition allows Ethiopian Airlines transit passengers to be included in tourism statistics despite these travellers not genuinely experiencing or contributing to regional destinations.

The government has expressed its desire to have tourism be a significant contributor to the economy in the second phase of the Growth & Transformation Plan (GTP II) – a national five-year strategy for economic development.

But with stagnant growth over the past several years, Ethiopia is still considered to be a relatively unknown destination for the travelling public and needs to create a sense of place on travellers’ minds. Travellers and travel agents encounter a growing number of messages from established and emerging destinations all competing for limited mind space and scarce vacation time.

A statistic that stands out is that both Uganda ( with 1,303,000) and Rwanda (with 987,000) have outperformed Ethiopia (864,000) in terms of the number of international tourist arrivals in 2015, according to the UNWTO. Ethiopia, a nation of 100 million people, diplomatic capital of Africa, home to nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and proud operator of Africa’s leading airliner should be at the forefront of tourism in East Africa.

Despite their relevant geographical location, these three countries offer different attractions. Rwanda and Uganda are known for their wildlife and national parks, whereas Ethiopia is known for its culture and historical sites.

If a nation like Rwanda can overcome its haunting troubles of the past and develop a compelling tourist destination, then Ethiopia, with its growing economic power and status, can rise to become a tourism powerhouse in the continent.

Before visualising what can be achieved though, many challenges need to be addressed. Some of them include the lack of sufficient marketing, inadequate infrastructure to accommodate travellers (primarily tourist centres), and the absence of skilled human capital at new tourist sites.

These issues will take years to tackle, but in the meantime, there are solutions to attract more travellers.

A worthwhile approach would be to first better understand the attractions of Ethiopia and identify its main brand touchpoints. Brand points are the physical manifestation of how a destination delivers a particular experience. In the case of tourism, touchpoints are meant to be instantly recognisable and are attached with considerable meaning.

For example, touchpoints for France will be the Louvre Museum and the Eiffel Tower. The United States has the Statue of Liberty or the Grand Canyon. Ethiopia boasts the Lalibela Rock-Hewn churches, the Axum obelisks, Simien mountains, Erta Ale volcano, Dallol Hot Springs, the castles of Gonder, or Harer city gates.

The list goes on, but it is just a matter of identifying which of these attractions will generate consumer interest.

These are notable examples of touchpoints that universally conjure a powerful sense of place and have been heavily symbolised in pictures and art. These sites can become must-see attractions for visitors.

For Ethiopia, salient touchpoints such as these not only thrill visitors, but can also help convey the experience to those who have not been to the destination when incorporated in marketing imagery, writing, and brand symbolism. Thereby, bringing the brand to life. Presenting these can help destination-marketing stakeholders to visualise the brand and how it can be messaged to target markets.

What needs to be answered, though, is why tourists travel to Ethiopia.

Is it for the culture, historical sites, cuisine, or adventure?

The branding effort of the country needs to take note of customer’s opinions, which can be conducted through surveys, forums, or focus groups. This will be the basis for rebuilding the brand and appealing to the right tourists.

A study by Cornell University’s Centre of Hospitality Research on competitive destination planning states that “a destination’s ability to establish and maintain its market position is critical for its competitiveness, and maintaining that market position requires strategic planning to address changes in the competitive environment.”

The question now is how the concerned government bodies can use readily available data on tourists’ travel habits and preferences to reveal their destination life-cycle position. With market information in hand, Ethiopia can make informed choices about appropriate development strategies. Thus, Ethiopia will become a leading tourist destination.


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