Ethiopia should extensively work to expand tourism infrastructure and develop strategy so as to exploit its potential and become center of conference tourism, tourism experts say.
Although there is no well documented evidence on how conference tourism began in Ethiopia, it is believed that the sector made its way into the country following the construction of the African Union Hall and the United Nations Conference Centers in Addis Ababa.
Although there have been improvements in recent times, experts who work in the sector indicate that the country needs to invest huge sums of capital to make the industry competitive, and have a comprehensive strategy to further exploit the sector.
Yohannes Kifle, former General Manager of Shebelle Ethiopia Conference Services, says they established the company noticing the fact that teleconference and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) tourism facilitators were non-existent in the country. “For long, there were only two conference organizers due to shortage of highly skilled professionals in Ethiopia,” he says.
Conference tourism and ordinary tourism are two sides of the same coin, Yohannes further opines.
Sisay Teklu has been working as Hotel and Tourism Expert for 30 years. He says that the tourist flow and the income that the country earned from the industry are flourishing, though it slightly diminished in the past three years. However, the conference tourism is gaining momentum as many of the events hosted by the country have been conducted as per their schedules.
“Africa Union leaders’ summit, for instance, is carried out once per year in Addis, while Ethiopia is usually taken as a second option when countries organizing an event are unable to do so.”
Sisay talks about the expansion of hotels and other related service delivery institutions as having a positive effect on the industry.
Most of the international and local meetings are arranged in hotels, he says, and a number of hotels have been constructed not only in Addis Ababa, but also in other emerging cities like Adama, Mekele, Hawassa and Bahirdar, which are suitable for conference tourism.
He also points out that the numbers of conference and meeting facilitators have also been increasing, though the figure is still below the required level.
What matters most, for him, is that tourists who come to attend the conference extend their stay and spend their time and money to visit various tourist destinations.
“Pre and post conference tours need to be organized for tourists. Here, the expansion of service providing institutions is vital to attract tourists.”
Moreover, Sisay indicates the importance of promotion in order to exploit the comparative advantages, and develop all the possible opportunities that tourism brings about.
“Ethiopia, especially the capital Addis Ababa has its own comparative advantage to develop the sector; the presence of hotels, the expansion of airlines, and its suitable temperature/topography.”
It is important to invest on the sector by bringing other countries’ best practice to further develop the sector, as many countries have benefited a lot by cultivating the sector extensively, he advices.
Kumneger Teketel, also a MICE expert, believes that conference tourism in Ethiopia is not in a position to claim that it has shown progress. The main reason for this is low infrastructure development.
He stresses on the need for setting up a public institution that organizes international meetings so as to facilitate conferences in an organized manner.
Kumneger laments on the need of having a broad strategy to develop the meeting industry, and the involvement of all the pertinent stakeholders.
“Unless we come up with a strategy to lead the sector, the meeting industry will stall. So far the meeting industry in Ethiopia is not developed, and we are saying this based on internationally recognized report of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA),” he adds.
Indicating that international exhibition organizers association is in a position to be established, he says the objective of the association is to professionalize the industry.
The capacity of the country’s meeting organizers might be limited given that it is a new industry. To this end, it is decisive to produce well-trained professionals and further enhance the sector. Conference tourism should also be given as a course in higher level education institutions.
Tourism Marketing Research Expert at Addis Ababa Culture and Tourism Bureau Mihiret Getachew says the prospect of conference tourism is promising compared to the previous period.
Low awareness of the society towards the industry, inadequacy of the infrastructure development, and absence of meeting hotels are mentioned as bottleneck to further develop the sectors, he adds.
Although hotels construction has been expanding throughout the country, they are not enough both in number and in providing standardize services, he insists. “Enough promotional and marketing works have not been done efficiently and effectively. As the capital is a place where various international organizations such as UNECA, AU and others reside, awareness raising works should be done. For this to happen, adequate capital should be allocated.”
Mihiret says that improving service provision, developing tourism facilities and beautifying the capital and other towns are important in this regard. When conference organizers come to a given city, they are not only thinking about the event, but also the various tourist sites, he notes.
There are few meeting organizers; in number as well as in capacity. They have to gain support from the government and others. “Though there is a visible change, we are at an early stage. When you develop a given sector, you have to take economic benefit into consideration. All stakeholders should provide due consideration to get benefit out of the sector.”
However, this does not happen overnight. It requires huge amount of effort and investment, they all agree.
Given the strategic importance of Ethiopia in continental politics and as an emerging economy, the conference tourism sector has the potential to become yet another contributor to the economy given the required infrastructure and strategy are put in place.