Ethiopia Finalizing Preparations to Launch Cross-Border Tourism

April 23/2021 /ENA/ Ethiopia has been finalizing preparation to launch cross-border tourism which integrate it with regional countries, according to Tourism Ethiopia.

Tourism Ethiopia Director-General, Sileshi Girma told ENA that cross-border tourism which has been expanding across the world helps to increase revenue.

Cross-border tourism is one of the strategies many countries around the world have used to revive tourism that has been hit by COVID-19, he added.

According to him, Ethiopia recognizes that using cross-border tourism as an alternative is necessary to recover the tourism sector by establishing COVID-19 resilient tourism.

Taking this into consideration, the government has been preparing to implement cross-border tourism by preparing plan to work with East African countries in the sector, the director-general elaborated.

In this regard, the country has started working with Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda on cross-border tourism, Shileshi disclosed.

Discussions that help to work in collaboration have been conducted with tourism institutions and government officials of the countries.   

The director-general stated that cross-border tourism plays important role in boosting tourism in East Africa as tourism resources in the region are mutually supportive.

He further noted that will also help Ethiopia to strengthen diplomatic and social relationships with the countries.

According to Sileshi, the government is working to finalize preparations for issuing visa, border peace and security issues, expanding tourism infrastructures and other related works to start the cross-border tourism.