Practice And Challenges Of Promoting Major Tourism Destinations In Awi Administration Zone

Ethiopia’s tourism industry is in its initial stages of development as seen in its long history ofrnpromotion and development. The country’s governance changing systems have resulted in differentrnsocial constructions of the role of tourism in national development. Mainly in Ethiopia andrnspecifically in the Awi zone is rich for both natural and cultural tourism resources. On the contrary,rnit’s cultural, economic, social and environmental role was trivial due to different promotionalrnchallenges. Therefore, this study has assessed the practice and challenges of promoting major tourismrndestinations in Awi zone. The design of this study was descriptive and has employed a qualitativernresearch approach. The data collection method employed in this study is such as interviews, focusrngroup discussion, field observation and document review. The interview was conducted with 29 keyrninformants and one focus group discussion among 9 participants those selected from Awi ZonernCulture and Tourism Department, woredas found in Awi Zone, Awi Zone GovernmentrnCommunication Department and major local destination managers. The data were analysedrnqualitatively by narrative, text explanation and phenomena description method. The finding of thernresearch showed that many tourism attractions in the zone, attractions which can be relevant to thernlocal, national, or international tourist. Yet, the resources are not well promoted, and there are manyrnchallenges, the main ones include lack of government attention, skilled manpower, budget andrnfunding, marketing and promotional strategies, stakeholder’s cooperation, museums and culturalrncenters, overall awareness and conflict over resource ownership. According to this study, weakrnpromotion practices include poor-quality banners, brochures and signposts. In order to makernpromotion of the tourism destination more viable: improving the government’s attention, use ofrntechnology, allocation of budget, encouraging investment and incentives, awareness creations, basicrninfrastructure development, establishing promotional strategies and promotional activities and toolsrn(building destination image and brand, performing events and activities, forming tourism partnershiprnand “know-your-country” clubs, using online promotion, social media, etc.) are the core andrnessential aspects requiring work in order to ensure the improvement and promotion of the tourismrnindustry in the zone. In this area the best approach to run an efficient destination promotion is tornencompass as many experts and concerned bodies as possible to the promotion processes as it is notrnonly the promotion and marketing personn

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