Dagnachew Teklu
11 April 2003
Addis Ababa — Community Based Tourism (CBT) activity in Ethiopia is said to play a major role in alleviating chronic food insecurity and environmental destruction.
This was stated on Thursday at the opening of a two-day regional workshop held at Ghion Hotel under the theme "Options for Sustainable Livelihoods: Community Based Tourism."
The workshop is organized to raise the profile of CBT and its potential to contribute to improved livelihood security among vulnerable populations and their environment in Ethiopia.
Kinfe Abeba, Executive Director of Ethiopian wildlife and natural history society said on the occasion that it is important to look for alternative means of income generation from the country's tourism sector.
"The potential for community tourism to contribute to sources of livelihood among food insecure populations in Ethiopia remains largely unexplored despite the growing demand for alternative tourism experiences," Kinfe said.
He said that critical communities around or within the endangered environments need alternative means of generating income that may reduce their unsustainable exploitation of local natural resources.
"If managed appropriately tourism can offer benefits to local communities through revenue generation, direct employment, increased demands for services, local products and crafts, and from the multiplier effects generated by increased circulation of cash," Kinfe added.
Stuart Williams, a tourism expert at the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation on his part said in his "Tourism for conservation" presentation that there is a high revenue leakage in the Ethiopian tourism industry.
Williams said that much of the income from the sector goes to external bodies.
He also indicated that poor rural communication and marketing, lack of transport access to tourism sites and security are the major challenges facing the country's tourism activity.
"Ethiopia offers a vast array of landscapes and cultures with numerous possibilities for tourism. With its endemic wildlife resource and unique ancient cultural heritage, Ethiopia could be vying with top countries in Africa as a major tourist destination on the continent," Williams said.
Tourism experts from Africa and other countries as well as NGOs, donors, and government organisations are attending the workshop organized by FARM Africa in collaboration with SOS Sahel International.
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