ETHIOPIA’S NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS TO COINCIDE WITH RESTART OF TOURISM ACTIVITIES
(Posted 21st August 2020)
As Ethiopia prepares for the country’s New Year celebrations, taking place on the 11th of September – Ethiopia is running on a different calendar compared to the rest of the world – is information emerging that the country may on that very day also officially resume tourism activities for visitors from abroad.
Ethiopian Airlines has been operating throughout the pandemic and Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport remained open for scheduled passenger flight operations, which included a very large number of repatriation flights from across the world.
Writes a regular source from Addis Ababa:
‘Ethiopia is now preparing to open its borders for tourism after adaptation of global protocols for the new normal as required by the World Travel & Tourism Council(WTTC).
The protocol is developed to support safe, healthy and responsible restart of attractions around the world.
The objective is to ensure that protocols are in place across all relevant functions with an increased focus on health,safety and physical distancing standards which travellers will need and expect.
According to Mr. Sileshi Girma , CEO of Tourism Ethiopia and advocate for Land of Origins, his office and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism are working towards restoring tourists confidence and will soon start to receive international tourists after securing the official stamp of WTTC.
The re-opening of the Borders [is expected to] coincide with ”Ethiopian new year 2013” which will be celebrated on 11th September 2020.
According to sources close to the tourism sector, Ethiopia will get approval in a shorter time as she has fulfilled major requirements.
On another note, Ethiopian airlines announced resumption of flights to 68 destinations with a possible increase within days. Major tourist originating countries are still open and there is an opportunity for tourist inflow to the country.
Major players in the industry and all stakeholders in the value chain are heavily affected by the lockdowns and travel bans soon after the disease of unknown cause detected in China turned into a global pandemic which was first reported on 31st of December 2019 and was later named Covid-19.‘
ATCNews will monitor the situation and report when WTTC has certified Ethiopia as a country safe for tourism operations and when the official relaunch date has been confirmed.
2 Responses
Good afternoon. It’s a fantastic idea to restart especially on the occasion of new Ethiopian year 2013. But please be sure that if a tourist will arrive with a certificate confirming that he/she is free from covid they not forced to stay 14 days in hotel otherwise it will be a total mess. Be very sure that the rules will be very clear without allowing any Daca employees to destroy all good efforts you are doing. Best regards
Wonderfull idea , but should be carefuly treated from the pandemic diseases.