ADDIS ABABA-The Ministry of Tourism (MoT) has announced that it is implementing activities to leverage technology in order to promote the potential of tourism.
The statement above was made yesterday by MoT’s Minister Selamawit Kassa at the official opening of the Tourism and Technology Forum (TTF) organized by the Oromia Tourism Commission, which will last through today. According to her, activities are being carried out to establish a connection between tourism and technology with the goal of maximizing benefits from the sector. In this regard, countries are using technology in tourism to generate substantial revenue.
She added that the government has given proper attention to tourism, one of the five pillars of the nation’s economy, along with mining, agriculture, ICT, and industry. However, the adoption of technology should be tailored to incorporate local knowledge in order to generate substantial revenue, enhance the country’s image, create job opportunities, support entrepreneurs, and more.
The technology-led economy and the linkage between technology and tourism will play a crucial role in Oromia state and Ethiopia as a whole,” she noted. “Therefore, the Ministry of Tourism promises to provide necessary support to those involved in technology.” Selamawit also stated that Ethiopia has been losing out on a lot of tourism revenue due to inadequate promotion, lack of technology, marketing, and cooperation in the past years, despite the sector being untapped. However, the tourism and technology linkage forum is an initiative to improve in the future.
OTC’s Deputy Commissioner, Nega Wodajo, mentioned that the commission has been diligently working on implementing technology in the tourism sector to showcase the country’s potential to the rest of the world. “In the past four years alone, only two sites have been registered under the International Tourism’s Village,” he added.
Nega supported the idea that the country is not benefiting adequately from tourism, despite having great tourism potential due to its geographical location close to the Middle East. “Tourism in Ethiopia contributes only 1/10th of the gross domestic product (GDP) and 1/10th of jobs, according to the World Tourism Organization (WTO) report,” he added.
Among the various activities of OTC, Visit Oromia is playing a crucial role in promoting the state’s tourism potential by using supporting photos, websites, social media platforms, and more. It has also introduced virtual reality (VR) to enhance tourism promotion.
During this two-day tourism and technology forum, stakeholders, policymakers, and other concerned parties are expected to discuss tourism and technology in a way that promotes tourism development, conservation, and more, it was learnt.
BY MESERET BEHAILU
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 24 JUNE 2025
