Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) of Tourism Destination Competitiveness in Ethiopia: The Tourists' Perspective

Author Information

Weldearegay GebretsadikFollow

Author Bios (50 Words for each Author)

Born in a remote rural village of Ahsea, Ethiopia, Dr Hiyab Gebretsadik holds PhD in Tourism Management with “Excellent” Dissertation Grade, Master of Business Administration with “Very Good” Thesis Grade and Bachelor of Arts in Tourism Management with Very Great Distinction Academic Honor. He has received Gold Medal from his department for being the top of his class in his undergraduate study in Gondar University. He stunningly topped in his class with highest score in more than 90% of his academic years from elementary school to his PhD.

Dr Hiyab Gebretsadik is one of the youngest doctors in the world in his field who successively completed three of his degrees with no gap of year in between and secured his PhD at the age of 28. He is also one of the youngest General Directors of Mega Projects in the world who became one at his age of 28 on the same year of PhD graduation.

He formerly served as Lecturer for Adama Science and Technology University Department of Tourism Management, as Training Manager and Data Analyst for Smollan International. He is a visiting professor to Addis Ababa University.

Since the first half of 2016, he is serving as the General Director of Entoto and Surrounding Tourist Destination Development Project with 4.8 Billion Birr Project cost extended over 4134.5 hectare mountainous hills of the Entoto Mountain in Addis Ababa. He is the pioneer leader of the project office project from idea inception to setting up the office and changing it to reality.

Dr. Hiyab raised above rural life’s turmoil, rejoiced the meaning of victorious endings after obscure beginnings and painted his academic life with inspiring stories of struggles and triumphant. His MBA study, university teaching life, Ecotourism project management experience and collaborated research works with many business consultants have enabled him to own mind stimulating managerial wisdoms and enough of the complexion from both colors of practice and theory.

He was featured in EBS TV, ENN TV, ADDIS TV, many Radio Stations, Magazines like The Ethiopian Herald, The Reporter Magazine for exclusive interviews and many publication sites. He has both books and research publications in tourism competitiveness, entrepreneurship and life skills.

Abstract (150 Words)

In this study the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) of Tourism Destination Competitiveness (TDC) in Ethiopia was conducted from the tourists' perspective. 384 inbound tourists to Ethiopia were taken as a sample. Mapping the scores of attributes regarding their importance and performance against the Iso-Priority Line gave a meaning that the distribution of attributes in the graph were more skewed to the importance of attributes than the performance which speaks that Ethiopia as a tourist destination has more of homework to catch up and maintain its global competitive balance than more of a competitive advantage. Based on the market behavior of inbound tourists to Ethiopia, the important market wise deviation was observed only on the importance of two TDC constructs (amplifiers and demand condition) on North Americans and Africans, respectively. Through the IPA four quadrant grid, entry points of Ethiopian TDC were found that show how to deploy scarce resources to where they are needed most through demand based and context based interventions or public spending. A set of robust indicators that are short and ready for immediate application in Ethiopian context were found with a point of caution that these should be directly aligned with the geopolitical policy priorities so it can help the country compete with global economies of mature tourism sector.