French Private Companies Urged to Include Ethiopia in Their Tour Packages

April 27/2013 (ENA) Ethiopia's Ambassador to France, Spain, Portugal, Holly See and Monaco, Henock Tefera has called on French private companies to include Ethiopia in their tour packages as France is a well known source of outbound tourism and Ethiopia endowed with immense tourism attractions.

According to the Ethiopian Embassy in Paris  a total of 77 company representatives composed mainly of the private sector as well as members of the Ethiopian Tour Operators Association attended the meeting.

In his opening speech-cum-presentation, the ambassador highlighted the favorable outlook ahead, due to, among others, the expanded roll out of vaccines, for the international tourism to rebound in the later part of the year 2021 from its unprecedented downfall in the year 2020 and early part of 20021 because of the COVID -19 pandemic.

On the occasion, Ambassador Henock called upon the French private companies to include Ethiopia in their tour packages given that France is well known as a source of outbound tourism on the one hand and that Ethiopia is endowed with immense tourism attractions on the other.

Culture and Tourism Minister, Hirut Kassaw on her part recalled the historic relationship between Ethiopia and France and the multifaceted cooperation forged between the two friendly countries.

Highlighting the wide range of tourism potentials that Ethiopia offers and considering the strong relationship between the two countries, she expressed her hope that the meeting is a momentous occasion to create awareness about those potentials with a view to stimulating French tourism flows into Ethiopia.

Tourism Ethiopia Chief Executive Officer, Sileshi Girma dwelt on the socio-economic importance of the tourism sector in the Ethiopian economy, the top priority attached to the sector, and walked the participants through a range of historic, cultural, archaeological and natural tourist attractions of Ethiopia.

Ethiopian Airlines France and Maghreb Regional Manager, Nebiat Haile Michael spoke about the domestic and international connectivity offered by the Ethiopian Airlines by adding that Ethiopia has been rated as ‘Safe Travel Destination’ by the World Travel and Tourism Council on February 19,2021.

The two Lyon (France) based entities, namely the Consulate of Ethiopia and the France-Ethiopia Business Club, in collaboration with the Ethiopian Embassy in Paris, France, organized the webinar entitled: Promoting Tourism Opportunities in Ethiopia to French Private  Companies.