Addis has generated over one billion USD as a result of 427, 797 tourists who visited the city during the last six months of the current Ethiopian fiscal year.
The stated amount has been secured both from leisure and conference tourists, Addis Ababa City Administration Culture and Tourism Bureau told The Ethiopian Herald.
Bureau Communication Affairs Support Work Process leader Worku Mengesha said travel agencies, hotels, souvenir shops and Car rentals as well as other service providers have earned their fair share from the generated income, he added.
Compared to previous fiscal year’s same period, this year’s earning has shown certain growth. However, he said the city has not still unleashed its full tourism potentials. “In terms of the city’s tourist sites and destination areas, the income is minuscule.”
To him, the rise in the number of tourists coming to the capital [and the nation] could be a testimony to the country’s growing good images among the global community, not to mention government and private sector’s tireless efforts, heritages inscribed by UNESCO like Meskel, Fichee-Chambalaalla and Gada System.
The Bureau has also installed 17 tourist compass maps in areas where the touristic traffic is higher, he indicated, revealing as 15 more are under construction.