Abstract (150 Words)
The relevance of air- transport goes far beyond the tourism sector. First, it is a catalyst for sociology-economic development. Second, it serves for the integration of host communities within the world community. Thirdly, it enhances the development of a strong Travel and Tourism sector in supporting the hospitality job creation, and also it raises national income. All in, it benefits the general competitiveness of economies through improvements in hard and soft infrastructure investment. And yet, tourism is increasingly promoted as an important source of economic growth, especially in Ethiopia, where its contribution has become crucially important to the country’s GDP growth ---this in turn, is believed in bringing about a positive impact on the travel and tourism industry GDP in general and hospitality industry employment in particular. However, without an efficient air transport system, it is almost impossible to ensure sustainable Travel and Tourism development, for the landlocked developing nations, like Ethiopia. Indeed, almost 100 percent of the international tourists arrival to Ethiopia have been ensured through Air-Transport in Ethiopia .To achieve the objective of the study, mixed research approach was employed. Primary data was collected through random sampling and purpose sampling techniques; concurrently from 360 international tourists who used to arrive in Ethiopia, in March and April 2019,from tourist generating regions, for leisure as well as business travel. And 40 participants were selected from the major stakeholders in the industry and subsequently, triangulation convergence design was applied. An important finding emerged in this study was that, despite EAL has been operating route network expansion in more than 107 bilateral destination-countries, and 126 destinations throughout the world, as a key role in attracting and onboarding inbound tourists through conventional and digital media aggressively; yet travel and tourism destination competitiveness Index (WTTC, 2007-2017) rank of Ethiopia since 2007- 2017/18, was averaged only 118.33/140). Hence, it hasn’t been significantly improved; nor Ethiopia’s world heritages hadn’t been well promoted by international tourists in the globe. Furthermore, the core finding of the study has shown that there was a loosely created synergy between the EAL’s key roles and its major stakeholders’ strategic plan. Ultimately; their plans were merely linked within the EAL’s vision 2020. However, a number of limitations need to be considered, due to tourist service infrastructure and a loosely created synergy among the major stakeholders in the industry; yet Ethiopia is not significantly benefited from the existing tourism potential---UNESCO’s world heritage sites in Ethiopia. Although the study has framed the preliminary findings, and yet further research should be done to better understanding of EAL’s key roles, in line with vision 2035, in tourism destination competitiveness perspective.
Ethiopian Airlines Role in Tourism Destination Competitiveness: Implications For Travel and Tourism Development in Ethiopia
The relevance of air- transport goes far beyond the tourism sector. First, it is a catalyst for sociology-economic development. Second, it serves for the integration of host communities within the world community. Thirdly, it enhances the development of a strong Travel and Tourism sector in supporting the hospitality job creation, and also it raises national income. All in, it benefits the general competitiveness of economies through improvements in hard and soft infrastructure investment. And yet, tourism is increasingly promoted as an important source of economic growth, especially in Ethiopia, where its contribution has become crucially important to the country’s GDP growth ---this in turn, is believed in bringing about a positive impact on the travel and tourism industry GDP in general and hospitality industry employment in particular. However, without an efficient air transport system, it is almost impossible to ensure sustainable Travel and Tourism development, for the landlocked developing nations, like Ethiopia. Indeed, almost 100 percent of the international tourists arrival to Ethiopia have been ensured through Air-Transport in Ethiopia .To achieve the objective of the study, mixed research approach was employed. Primary data was collected through random sampling and purpose sampling techniques; concurrently from 360 international tourists who used to arrive in Ethiopia, in March and April 2019,from tourist generating regions, for leisure as well as business travel. And 40 participants were selected from the major stakeholders in the industry and subsequently, triangulation convergence design was applied. An important finding emerged in this study was that, despite EAL has been operating route network expansion in more than 107 bilateral destination-countries, and 126 destinations throughout the world, as a key role in attracting and onboarding inbound tourists through conventional and digital media aggressively; yet travel and tourism destination competitiveness Index (WTTC, 2007-2017) rank of Ethiopia since 2007- 2017/18, was averaged only 118.33/140). Hence, it hasn’t been significantly improved; nor Ethiopia’s world heritages hadn’t been well promoted by international tourists in the globe. Furthermore, the core finding of the study has shown that there was a loosely created synergy between the EAL’s key roles and its major stakeholders’ strategic plan. Ultimately; their plans were merely linked within the EAL’s vision 2020. However, a number of limitations need to be considered, due to tourist service infrastructure and a loosely created synergy among the major stakeholders in the industry; yet Ethiopia is not significantly benefited from the existing tourism potential---UNESCO’s world heritage sites in Ethiopia. Although the study has framed the preliminary findings, and yet further research should be done to better understanding of EAL’s key roles, in line with vision 2035, in tourism destination competitiveness perspective.
