Ethiopia has set itself an ambitious goal of becoming one of Africa’s top five tourist destinations by tripling its number of foreign visitors by 2020.

With the country’s tourism revenue rising more than 20% last year to a record high of US$3.5 billion, it may well be on its way to achieving this target. In fact, due to its cultural wealth (particularly the 13th century underground churches of Lalibela and the hillside castles of Gondar), the landlocked nation has performed better than its more tourism-established neighbours Kenya and Tanzania, which earned a collective US$2.7 billion.

According to an AFKInsider report, in 2015 the number of visitors to Ethiopia increased by 136 000 to reach 910 000. The country hopes to raise this number to 2.5 million over the next four years.

19 July 2016
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