Lessons From Ethiopia's Post-War Tourism Recovery
Photo Credit: Lalibela is one of Ethiopia's most popular destinations. The town was briefly occupied by Tigrayan rebels. Unsplash / Mulugeta Wolde
Skift Take
The civil war is over, but Western government travel warnings are still there. If there's going to be a recovery, tourism authorities need to focus their energy on getting those lifted. That's going to require repeated messaging that the war is over.
Ethiopia’s tourism sector has been hit hard in the last two years by Covid and a brutal civil war, with spending down by more than $2 billion. The tourist sites and infrastructure have been spared, but the sector doesn't have the confidence of governments, travelers and tour group operators that the conflict is over and the country is a safe destination.
For two years, Ethiopia has had an ethnic civil war largely fought between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It started in November 2020 when the Ethiopian government sent troops into the northern Tigray region after prime minister Abiy Ahmed accused the TPLF of attacking a military base. The war was mostly concentrated in Tigray but did spill into parts of other regions like Amhara.
The conflict may have led to over 600,000 lives lost, according to the Financial Times. Millions of people have been displaced. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights have accused Tigrayan forces of committing war crimes and “human rights abusesâ€
