The Journey, South African based tourism consulting and marketing firm has concluded an agreement with Ethiopian Ministry of Culture and Tourism under the ‘Ethiopia Sustainable Tourism Development Program’ to set up a national tourism marketing strategy and tourism brand for Ethiopia.

The Journey stated the agreement includes regional plans for five key tourism regions in Ethiopia and brand identity targets at promoting Ethiopia as a cohesive and unique tourism experience.

The Journey’s website reads that the national and regional tourism marketing strategies will pilot the activities of Ethiopia Tourism Organization (ETO) for the coming five years.

Developing the marketing strategy and brand involves extensive field visits, interviews with hundreds of local stakeholders, workshops with tourism leaders in Ethiopia and research among the international travel trade and consumers, it was learnt.

Ethiopia Sustainable Tourism Development Project (ESTDP) is assisted by World Bank.

Ethiopia has already prepared a draft, Sustainable Tourism Master Plan for 2015 to 2025 which targets at establishing a national framework for sustainable tourism development.

Source: The Daily Monitor