Why Ethiopia Should Develop Domestic Tourism and Who are Responsible for this

Abstract

Since domestic tourism development in Ethiopia is a missed opportunity, the main objective of this study focused on identifying and explaining reasons of domestic tourism development in the nation and its key actors. To achieve these objectives, qualitative approach with explanatory design and expert purposive sampling techniques were employed for focus group discussion and interview data gathering instruments. The qualitative data was collected from twenty private and governmental tourism experts and twenty eight domestic tourists in the form of interview and six focus group discussions with nine discussants each were analyzed. The interpretation of qualitative data was a content descriptive approach. The main result revealed that domestic tourism development in the nation has a benefit of promoting ethnic and religious tolerance, contributes to the quality of life through educational travel, retain the hard currency and brings development to rural areas. The key stakeholders of domestic tourism development in Ethiopia also include the Ministry of culture and tourism, tourism Ethiopia, Ethiopian airlines, event organizers, tourism and hospitality related associations, religious leaders, media, schools, tour operators and travel agents, universities & research institutions, consultants and hotels. Finally, based on the results of the study involvement of religious and cultural institutions and their leaders, strengthen the national tourism media forum, establishment of national domestic tourism stakeholder platform and supporting and strengthening the establishment of tourism related associations were some of the recommended points to the sustainable development of domestic tourism in the nation. Key Words: Domestic Tourism, Benefits, Stakeholders and Ethiopi