Ethiopian Airlines (ET) has established a new partnership with Ethiopian Tourism Organization (ETO) with the ambition of making Ethiopia a global tourist destination, according to The Reporter.
During the press conference held on Thursday, May 1, 2014, Tewolde Gebre Mariam, CEO of ET and Board chairman of ETO, announced the partnership of the two entities is made in order to make Ethiopia a major tourist destination. According to Tewolde, ET spends more than US$ 10 Million to promote Ethiopian tourist attractions.
ET has also made a 40 percent discount on domestic flights in order to achieve the ambition of making Ethiopia a major tourist attraction. Commenting on this Tewolde told reporters, “Ethiopian does not make profit from domestic operations, but as a national carrier we have an obligation to promote the tourism sector as well as offer affordable prices for Ethiopian nationals on domestic routes”.
Following this announcement, the Ethiopian Tour Operations Association disclosed the prices of tour operation would now go down by 20 percent. President of the Association, Fitsum Gezahegn, commenting on this said the move will significantly reduce tour operation costs.
According to Fitsum, the most important factors in tourism development are product, service and price. And he insisted for the nation to work on changing the country’s image and improve services as well as offer competitive prices.
Fitsum also mentioned the challenges of the tourism industry. Nevertheless, he admitted improvements are being seen to change the problems but he insisted for more work.
Solomon Tadesse, CEO of ETO, on his part has applauded the move by ET to collaborate with his organization. He added, “A public private partnership has been established and we will be working closely with all stakeholders including the Ethiopian Tour Operators Association, the Ethiopian Hotels Association, Ethiopian Airlines and all relevant government bodies in tourism development and marketing”.
ETO is a newly established organization and it has Ethiopian Airports Enterprise, Ethiopian Roads Authority, National Bank of Ethiopia, Ethiopian Immigration, Ethiopian Investment Authority, Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopian Tour Operators Association and Addis Ababa Hotels Association as its board members.
According to the Growth and Transformation Plan, by 2015 Ethiopia expects to boost its income genrated from tourism to three billion U.S., dollars and the number of tourist to one billion.
Source: The Reporter
