Ethiopia Records Biggest Growth in World Travel & Tourism

 Addis  Ababa  April 16/2019 Ethiopia’s travel and tourism economy grew by 48.6% in 2018, the largest of any country in the world, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) annual review of the economic impact and social importance of the sector released yesterday.

In 2018, travel and tourism reportedly contributed USD 7.4 billion to the country’s economy, an increase of 2.2 billion USD in 2017. The sector now represents 9.4% of Ethiopia’s total economy.

The WTTC research which compares the travel and tourism sector across 185 countries, shows that in 2018 the Ethiopian Travel & Tourism sector significantly outpaced the global growth rate of 3.9%, the African growth rate of 5.6%.

It supported 2.2 million jobs or 8.3% of total employment and was primarily driven by leisure travelers. Some 79% of the travel and tourism spending was generated by leisure visitors and 21% from business travelers.

The country's tourism and travel strongly weighted towards international travel: 77% of the travel and tourism spending came from international travelers and 23% from domestic travel, it was reported.

Commenting on the numbers, Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO said: "Ethiopia’s travel and tourism boom was one of the great success stories of 2018. It has exceeded our sector’s global and regional comparisons to record the highest level of growth of any country in 2018. This has been driven by the very strong performance of aviation in the country and the development of Addis Ababa as a dynamic and growing regional hub."She further stated that "travel and tourism in Ethiopia now accounts for one in every eleven dollars in the entire economy and one in 12 of all jobs. I would like to acknowledge the work of the Ethiopian Government, under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and the country’s commitment to the power of travel and tourism to drive economic growth, job creation and social enhancement."