Ministry of Culture and Tourism disclosed, Ethiopia earned around 872 million USD exclusively from foreign tourist flows during the first 3 months of the current fiscal year.

Speaking to the members of House of Peoples’ Representatives (HPR) on Thursday, January 5, 2016, Dr. Hirut Woldemariam, Minister for Culture and Tourism, said the tourist inflow has been increasing in the past 3 months, despite speculations and fears of violence.

According to the Minister, in the 3 months period more than 223,032 tourists visited Ethiopia. Nonetheless, most of them were in Ethiopia for conference tourist, research business and other activities.

Hirut further explained to the MPs international standard used to determine how much a tourist can spend when visiting a certain country. Based on that formula Ethiopia has generated 872 million USD from tourists in the said period, she added.
Almost 300,000 local tourists had also visited different places in Ethiopia, she added.

According to The Reporter, as an aftermath of the violence in Ethiopia during the first months of 2016/2017, reports were released indicating that the overall flow of tourists and revenue generated from them has taken a hit.

Source: The Reporter