Challenge and Prospect of Ethiopian Tourism Policy

In Ethiopia nature, culture and history merge to form a timeless appeal. The countries impressive tourism potential is truly a land of contrast and extremes, a land of remote and wild place, and of spectacular alpine terrain-including the semien mountain national park with its high 4620 meters peak at Ras Dashen one of UNESCO registered heritage site; and at the other end of spectrum, the Denakil depression 121 meters below sea level is among the lowest places on earth. However from these abundant resources the country has not benefited yet. Therefore questions about how tourism policies contribute to national development? What is wrong with the existing system? Why should the present policy be discarded? How did it become successful? These and similar other questions will have to be addressed first before proposing what measures should be taken to ameliorate the situation. For this reason, a brief account of the country’s tourism needs to be provided Keywords: tourism policy, attractions, challenge, prospec