An interview with State Minister of Tourism, Seleshi Girma
like you said there were tangible achievements in the past three and four years in the tourism sector so to just quickly list them one would be the policy and strategic issues that we have done at the office level which implies we were able to craft important strategies which are roadmap to develop tourism as a nation and the second would be which you mentioned again the touristic destination development projects like the intel to park unity park and sugar park which are public parks and which have never been in addis in the past so these are amazing and iconic touristic products this we're again able to bring and pull several visitors at a time so this is again another achievement and the third would be which happened recently the tourism ministry as an independent autonomous structure it's being established so having an independent autonomous the ministry of tourism does mean a lot for for the tourism community and to develop and plan tourism in a more better way so there are several achievements we saw for heart in structural policy level and product development if you especially mention the adisaba tourist attraction sites that have been done in the past few years that are the unity park friendship park and otto it's just very amazing in fact that there was no practical it wasn't unimaginable by other people because most of the places were just full of dirt and they were not even attractive to the ice but with just a few months it has been changed so what was the hope that the city especially had in regards to tourism before the conflict that began and just distorted everything what was the hope the city had before to me addis is always a rising city and it's always you know renewing itself it's always being very creative in a sense that there are always new opening hotels beautiful hotels there are always new touristic products like art galleries are being opened traditional restaurants that would be a product for tourists are coming up and the roads walkways are being opened much beyond you know the iconic and flagship touristic projects that you have mentioned so i'm always impressed with the additional opacity development more specifically from the tourism point of view so we are very much hopeful now and we were very much hopeful in the past too so i'm i'm i'm anticipating more tourists to come and visit is not only the international tourists if you see the public parks are attracting more visitors even from the city itself and yeah and domestic tourists again more who are whoever is coming for conference uh from regions whoever is coming for business are still visiting those places so others and touristic products here are an exemplary product that the ethiopian would love to visit their own country and would love to visit touristic places people are still lining up you know in the weekend if you see in those parks so people are also paying interest to visit with an amazing experience and visiting culture that's happening in the capital and also the african community you know it's their own capital uh this is the diplomatic capital of africa that's what we say so the african community is also very much passionate to visit the capital and to visit what's in it so this is an opportunity and i'm very much hopeful in the forest coming future that tourism will again you know come up let's come to the war that ethiopia has been like maybe two years almost yeah so what what was the impact on the tourism sector especially in the flow of tourists as well what was the future the physical damage on the tourist sites because we've seen some tourist sites been damaged by the tpla as well and what was the major impact of the war on the tourism sector amanda the war has a different impacts one is the physical damage you beautifully mentioned it has you know damaged airports which are actually the gateway for tourists to visit tourist spots and again it has damaged some of the heritage including you know churches mosques museums it even it has even been robbed loosed exactly it were taken away it was taken away so this is on the heritage and on the transportation side like i said airports were damaged and some of the vehicles at the touristic spots were taken away and again on the accommodation facilities you know where tourists should stay and spend overnight where tourists have to take rest all these hotels lodge and resorts are again damaged so you know the transport access for tourists where they should sleep and stay and what they should go and see all these critical three pillars of tourism has been damaged due to the war so these are actual physical damage that has happened in the past and the second damage is on the image side looking into the war there were several atrocities and lives were lost and you know globally the media were broadcasting and advocating that ethiopia is on war and there are different crises happening so this creates tensions and this creates frustration in the mind and the eyes of the tourists so this has completely limited and i would say stopped the traveling pattern from the source market that was again another uh issue and at the same time if you see international organizations including the un embassies they they put travel ban that their citizens their employees and everyone from abroad should not travel to ethiopia so the travel ban has its own great consequences in limiting and reducing the number of potential visitors who are supposed to come to this beautiful country what's the if you mention the image building the impact of the western media on the tourism because ethiopia is well known for its tourist attractions all over the world especially the physical tourist attractions the lalibela and the axum as well what was the impact because have you noticed or in your ministry have you tried to trace down the real effect of the impact especially in the tourism in the tourist flow not only in the physical damage in the tourist flow has there any tourists come to ethiopia that visited although the western media were saying the reverse about the country yes and no yes because we had a rapid assessment kind of research with this we found some of the touristic spots like la liberalla there were zero number of visitors and at one specific time and later it was even under the military control of the tplf so by then you know not rest in such a very touristic place and no because there were some rational tourists and adventurists who were taking even a risk to travel and come to visit ethiopia we i remember in the middle of the war there were a few number of tourists coming and traveling to the other parts of ethiopia like uh the we have the thousand roads beautiful all the way to arbeit and the south omo we have another eastern route where it goes and sees the wall city of harare terrero all the way to jijiga and we have also another route you go through gma nakam and all the way to gambella national park and address and the surrounding areas is also another beautiful road so it's not only the north we have also other optional and alternative routes so tourists who were rational but very limited in number close to zero were able to come and visit some of these touristic routes let's come about the prime minister abi ahmed has called on the diaspora to come for christmas holiday one million actually and after that we have seen a lot of the diaspora community and friends of ethiopia as well coming to ethiopia and visiting all the tourist attractions especially in addis ababa so how do you think this great homecoming builds the image of the country so that it would attract more tourists yeah it would certainly build up the image of the country or it will assist you know in the recovery of tourism and re-imaging the nation at large we we knew that from experience it has also happened in other countries where there were there were you know similar war and other crisis by then one of the options to image your country would be inviting the diaspora to come and the second would be you bring all the international medias and organize familiarization trips so that they come and see the realities and again go back to advocated so there are there are different options so i hurtly appreciate the invitation from the prime minister dr abi for the diaspora community and friends of ethiopia to come at this time and you know trying to show the the beauty of this country and at the same time you know the damage that has happened due to you know the war uh and to support in rebuilding the country at the same time so i think it's really important and for tourism it has lots of message as a tourism expert i knew that this is going to open new touristic routes touristic circuits too because the diaspora uh are coming with a different uh background uh they in any case they will go and visit their families so by then we know they are opening up of new touristic routes that we haven't invested much or we haven't identified so far that's one and the second would be uh we used to depend on more of the western tourists you know in in the us in the north north america including canada and also in the in the european market so now we'll have a diaspora tourism or the diaspora market which is going to be you know a profitable niche niche market so this is going to be new opportunity for us at the same time it's not only the diaspora who are coming now what's most important for us is the diaspora families and the dispersed children and grandchildren coming up so the visit culture of their country their roots their origin is going to open up you know to bring more diaspora in future and also upgrade and scale up the the the visit culture the visit culture of going to the roots going to your origin so in that way also it will contribute much and again we have very [Music] big problem in the in terms of seasonality that means in few months we get tourists and in some months we don't get tourists at all so if the diaspora and the typing friends are coming that means they will come in a way that it really fits with their program and schedule and their work schedule so which implies you know we will get them all year round all months of the year in different numbers so it will help us to elevate the seasonality problems in the tourism sector well more to that i think the diaspora is here to just denounce the western influence as well because i'm here for my country so nobody is going to play over my country that's the image that we want to show to the whole world but how about the the their impacts in the economy as well that's just the image building that we have talked about earlier but what do you think about the economic value of the diaspora when they come here especially in your ministry are there any ways that are prepared so that they can directly not indirectly of course they pay for tickets and they pay for the hotels as well but are there any other way that they could directly impact the economy of the country definitely they will contribute a lot to the economy much beyond the image building in terms of economy you know the diasporas are organizing themselves you know mobilizing resource to support and rehabilitate the damaged and the physically distracted facilities touristic sports and also houses individual houses you know there are some cities and villages who are completely damaged and demolished so they are here to support to establish those villages they are here to reconstruct hospitals that were damaged they are here to reconstruct schools that were you know targeted by the war so they are here to economically supplement and support the efforts from the government side that's very true and the other is again they will definitely move around so they will use earth air flights they will use hotel accommodations and they will use you know restaurants they will buy handcraft and other materials so it does mean a lot for the economy the diaspora when they come here they have not only the economic responsibility because there are tourists who have a background of working on tourism uh working on image building working on different aspects of tourism is there any way that your ministry has planned to use that as a resource more to the economic value because if they can't make it happen economically by paying money for building any tourist sites is there any way that you could use their knowledge and experience for the country yeah we have crafted new strategies which i mentioned earlier and one is diaspora tourism strategy so the desperation strategy clearly shows that how we should use the diaspora who are living in different corners of the world and they can contribute to the tourism development as volunteers and as ambassadors in promoting their country and at the same time as investors to fill the investment gaps and the facility gaps in this country so we have a beautiful strategy that's already crafted and at the same time we are going to use this opportunity in which we get a good number of ideas for us uh to use them for different purposes so we very well taught that and we are waiting for their coming what is the way forward for the for the diaspora after they come here and after the visit and when they obviously will go back to where they come from but is there any way that they will be connected to ethiopia's tourism sector so that they would continue contributing to the sector as well yeah the diaspora would contribute a lot to this country i mean they have been doing a lot in the past now they have showed they are with ethiopia they are with itapan people with their own people and we are also anticipating more in future the diaspora to invest in the tourism sector in the hospitality sector uh we uh you know we assume the diaspora to come and visit again and to also send their friends to visit bring their children to visit the country and at the same time the diaspora you know to assist the government you know trials and efforts in promoting and reimaging the country we are trying other government to promote and we are trying to tell the truth to the world but we still need the diaspora to give hand in telling the realities in showing you know the beauty of their country and in convincing the outside world and the international media to really investigate the truth and see what's in ethiopia in the ground so we we still want the diaspora to always be used ethiopia and contribute as always [Music] dear all ethiopian diaspora in the ethiopian families we appreciate all what you have done so far and now on behalf of the ministry of tourism and myself i would like to call up on you all with your families and friends to come and visit ethiopia touristic places to come and invest in this beautiful country and to come and support the government's efforts and be with your own people hope see you soon in the country thank you so much [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] you
2022-01-19 05:26
