Ethiopia to lose 400 million dollars from tourism

ESAT News (November 11, 2016)

Ethiopia is expected to lose about 400 million dollars from tourism in the current budget year due to the unrest in the country.

The Ethiopian Culture and Tourism Minister said that in the last three months alone the country’s income from tourism has shown a decline by 7.4 million dollars.

The country had planned to generate 3 billion dollars from tourism this year but that could be far fetched due to the political crises in the country, according to the Ministry.

In a related news, The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of the United Kingdom advised that although restrictions on the movement of diplomats beyond Addis Ababa were lifted, “during the state of emergency, it’s possible that further restrictions could be introduced at short notice that affect access to certain parts of the country.”

Ethiopian tourism officials are in the UK to convince tourist operators despite the ongoing unrest in the country that forced many operators to cancel the booking.

Around 20,000 British nationals visit Ethiopia every year.