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Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopia’s flag carrier, announced new flights from Addis Ababa to Toronto beginning from the 16th of July.
The flight to Toronto will be the only regular non-stop flight from Toronto to Africa according to the press release from the airline.

Ethiopian will be deploying the brand new and ultra-modern B777-200LR aircraft which offers 287 economy class seats and 34 seats in the luxurious Cloud Nine Business class.

The airline will begin with 2 flights a week because of bilateral restrictions but expects to immediately increase the number of flights as soon as it obtains permission said Tewolde Gebremariam, Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines.

Bahir Dar has the potential to be another resort destination in Ethiopia with more than 287 private and public programs related to the tourism industry at investment of 6 billion birr already in the works said Mulugeta Seid, Head of the Culture, Tourism and Parks Development Bureau of the Amhara Regional State.

Bahir Dar is central to tourists traveling to several destinations in Northern Ethiopia he noted.

One of the projects expected to attract increased tourism to the town is the new convention center with the capacity to host 2500 people said Mulugeta. The town is also building a stadium which can seat 65,000 spectators although the most striking attraction is expected to be the floating hotel over Lake Tana according to Mulugeta.

Ethiopia harvested above 218.5 million quintals over the main harvest season according to the Central Statistical Agency. The Ministry of Agriculture had targeted to harvest 205 million quintals of crops based on the projections made by the agency earlier in the year.

The crop yield was scientifically calculated from a sample of 2,273 taken from across the country said Samiya Zekariya, Head of the Agency.

The harvest is the total production of smallholder farmers and represents a growth of 7.4% annual growth in comparison to the same harvest period last year. The farmers were able to farm more than 12.8 million hectares of land to produce the current harvest with an average productivity of 18 quintals per hectare.

A new system to rate hotels in Ethiopia is expected to be on line by the end of the current year announced the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The ministry revised its rating system to match international standards on the basis of feedback from the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

The UNWTO experts concluded that the previous system needed to clarify the criteria better and to allow more time for hotels to prepare to meet standards said Sisay Teklu, coordinator of Tourism Services Competence Accreditation Directorate with the Ministry of Culture.