Addis Ababa — Ethiopia earned over 39 million USD from conference tourism last Ethiopian budget year, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MoCT).

Ministry International and Public Relations Directorate Director Awoke Tenaw told WIC that the revenue was secured from the local, continental and international conferences the country hosted in the reported period.

Last year alone, some 49,685 participants attended the conferences conducted in the country with the majority held in Addis Ababa, the director said.

According to Awoke, conference participants stay in Ethiopia for 6 days and spend 121 USD per day on average for accommodation, shopping and other services. There are 426 tourist friendly hotels in the country, he added.

In order to improve the service quality in hotels, the Addis Ababa City Administration alone trained 3,000 hotel and tourism professionals last Ethiopian budget year, he said.

Efforts are underway to expand conference tourism to state towns such as Adama, Bahir Dar, Hawassa and Bishoftu so as to boost Ethiopia's income from the sector.