The Ethiopian Embassy In Moscow Presented The Tourism Potential Of The Country

[IMG=19970-5715]On May 29th the Ethiopian Embassy in Moscow made a presentation on the tourism resources of the country. At the press conference the African diplomats pointed out that Ethiopia is an attractive destination for those who prefer ‘deep’ tourism – ecological, exotic and extreme. The country offers to its guests 12 national parks and a great variety of ancient historical and religious sites. Meanwhile, travel market players that specialize in the African destination approved of the Ethiopian initiative, however, they pointed out a range of disadvantages of the destination. Thus, Ekaterina Adityarova, General Director of Veter Svobodi Travel Company, explained: ‘the infrastructure in the country is not well developed and hotel base is very poor. Besides, roads are in a terrible condition and there is a shortage of Russian-speaking guides. But Ethiopia has all the features of the third world country – poverty and unstable political situation. Few tour operating companies risk to organize tours to the country, as sending their clients to Ethiopia they bear double responsibility’. Gennadiy Gabrielyan, added: ‘there are no direct flights from Russia to Ethiopia, they are operated via Egypt, the UAE and Frankfurt, that consequently, increases the cost of air traffic for passengers’. Furthermore, Russian travel market players emphasized the country does not allocate budget for tourism development. For example, Inga Rudenskaya, General Director of Africana Travel Company, stated as follows: ‘given the resources of Ethiopia, the country has great potential for attracting tourists. But they need to organize fam trips as afterwards we will be able to encourage our clients to visit the country’.