Tourism Ethiopia joins African Tourism Board

Today Tourism Ethiopia joined the African Tourism Board as an observer.

Tourism Ethiopia (TE) is a national organization under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism;

The mission Tourism Ethiopia has is to transform tourism of the country in general by developing tourism products to world standards and marketing them to the global market.

In charge of the new cooperation with ATB is Musa Kedir, the  Tourism Destination Development Senior Officer

Ethiopia is one of Africa’s most beautiful countries and its landscapes are epic in both scale and beauty. Here is a place where you can trek more than 3000m above sea level (the Simien and Bale mountains) or visit the lowest place on the African continent, the Danakil Depression. In between, there are lush highlands and stirring deserts, vertiginous canyons and sweeping savannah, vast lakes and high plateaus. If you look hard enough, you’ll also find landmarks of great significance, from the source of the Blue Nile to, again, the mesmerizingly desolate Danakil Depression, peppered with an astonishing 25% of Africa’s active volcanoes.

Ethiopia, the only African country to have escaped European colonialism, has retained much of its cultural identity and its story is one of Africa’s most fascinating. It all begins with Lucy, one of our most celebrated ancient ancestors, moves effortlessly into the realm of ancient Aksum with its obelisks and echoes of the Queen of Sheba, and then takes on power and passion as Christianity, with mysterious echoes of Ancient Israel, takes center stage. And unlike so many other places in Africa, the ancients here left behind some extraordinary monuments to faith and power which serve as focal points for so many wonderful journeys.

When it comes to human cultures, Ethiopia has an embarrassment of riches. There are the Surmi, Afar, Mursi, Karo, Hamer, Nuer and Anuak, whose ancient customs and traditions have remained almost entirely intact. Venturing into these communities and staying among them is akin to receiving a privileged initiation into a forgotten world. A highlight of any trip here is witnessing one of the many festivals that are an integral part of the traditional culture, from age-old ceremonies marking rites of passage to Christian celebrations of singular passion, the impact upon those who witness such events can provide travel memories to last a lifetime.The government in Ethiopia decided in 2013 that tourism could generate jobs, income and wealth just like any other economic sector. A tourism transformation council was established to provide direction to the industry and the ETO was created to handle marketing, promotion and product development. The tourism push coincided with a massive upsurge in foreign investment from China, India, Turkey and other nations that boosted GDP to annual growth rates of around 10%. With the Ethiopian economy going like gangbusters, tourism is slowly but surely moving toward the great expectations generated more than half a century ago. Several members of the private industry from Ethiopia already joined African Tourism Board. 

CEO Doris Woerfel said: “We’re excited to work with Tourism Ethiopia in making Africa one tourism destination. Ethiopia brings so many new opportunities to promote tourism to Africa.”Founded in 2018, the African Tourism Board is an association that is internationally acclaimed for acting as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism to, from, and within the African region. For more information and how to join, visit africantourismboard.com. 

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