$35m World Bank Credit for Ethiopia Sustainable Tourism
Monday, 07 Jul, 2009
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St Georges Rock Church at Lalibela
The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved their first-ever sustainable tourism development project in Sub-Saharan Africa, a US$ 35 million International Development Association (IDA) Credit to the Government of Ethiopia.This initiative to develop the sector is guided by the vision that tourism should be sustainably developed and utilized for economic growth, job creation and poverty reduction whilst preserving and enhancing the country’s social, cultural and environmental assets.
The government aims to put the country among the top 10 African tourist destinations by the year 2020. This requires important investments in the preservation of cultural assets, the development of infrastructure and tourism facilities, skills enhancement, institutional development and community engagement.
“The proposed project provides much needed assistance to Ethiopia to unleash the unique potential of Ethiopia’s tourism sector through product improvement, market development and capabilities enhancement. Both the private sector and communities will partner with the Government to enhance the overall sector’s competitiveness so as to foster employment generation, foreign exchange earnings and improved living standards for the Ethiopians”, said Francois Nankobogo, the Bank’s Task Team Leader for the project.
The objective of the Sustainable Tourism Development Project for Ethiopia is to enhance the quality and variety of tourism products and services in targeted destinations so as to increase the volume of tourism, foreign exchange earnings, and jobs.
The project has four components. The first component, related to destination development, will focus on:
- the rehabilitation and enhancement of basic infrastructure in key historic sites, – Lalibela, Axum and Addis Ababa;
- visitor services enhancement in selected destinations; and
- tourism product development.
The second component, which deals with market development, will support: (a) positioning and marketing; and (b) a demand-driven linkages program utilizing a matching grant scheme for private sector competitiveness and fostering community involvement. The third component focuses on institutional development and capacity building through enhanced public-private partnerships, skills and sector management capabilities. Finally, the fourth component, dealing with implementation support and results monitoring, will support fiduciary and safeguards compliance activities, the set up of results-tracking system as well as project performance periodic reviews.
Currently, Ethiopia’s main tourist destination is the northern historic route which includes the sites of Lalibela and Axum. Addis Ababa, the principal gateway to the rest of the country, is in its own right a major destination and a leading conference venue in sub-Saharan Africa. Several emerging destinations in southern, western and eastern Ethiopia offer a wide range of historic, cultural and natural attractions. The total number of international tourist arrivals in Ethiopia, although growing (from 148,000 in 2001 to around 303,000 in 2007), is by no means commensurate with the potential of the country’s attractions. The proposed project will help reduce some of the constraints so as to improve the living standards of the population.
The project will be implemented by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism over a period of five years.
Valere Tjolle
Valere
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