Ethiopia: Lack of Attention, Attitudinal Problem Challenges to Tourism - Forum

By Fanuel Lakew

The Ethiopian Tourism Media Forum said that lack of due attention from pertinent government bodies, various tourism related organizations, media and stakeholders, and not giving the deserved recognition of the potential of the tourism sector are some of the major challenges that block the flourishing of the industry.

Forum Public Relations Head Asnake Berhanu told The Ethiopian Herald that the tourism sector has yet to secure the right attention from the media, the government and stakeholders which could boost the potential of the sector.

Asnake said that the absence of specialized professional journalists on tourism is also another challenge to be mentioned here because most journalists do not report on tourism and tourism related stories. This can be attributed to the attitudinal problem of not considering tourism as a huge source of employment and income while it should be underlined that tourism constitutes the third largest industry in these terms. It creates millions of job opportunities and enormous incomes to various developing as well as advanced countries across the world, he added.

He also mentioned various large organizations such as the Ethiopian Airlines which refrain from giving the attention and support indispensable to the industry in the form of sponsorship to those operating in the industry.

He noted that so far the Forum has influenced and exerted efforts which could help the tourism sector mobilizing and raising the awareness of its members on tourism, motivating various stakeholders to join the sector, and working with the media to have wide coverage on tourism.

He said that the Forum will keep the momentum of promoting tourism and its benefits to the economy with pertinent government bodies, the media and relevant stakeholders such as people engaged in the security issues of the country, financial bodies, transport personnel and hotels and agencies of various types who have some involvement with the industry.

Forum was formed three years ago with the aim of bringing together media leaders, tourism journalists, concerned organizations' public relation heads and tourism professionals in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Source: All Africa