The overall significance of tourism in general and religious tourism in particular has got recognitionrnfrom different scholars and organizations. However, its development mainly in Africa has faced numerousrnchallenges. Ethiopia is unique and sacred in Africa for the ancient two monotheistic world religionsrnnamely Islam and Christianity. The existence of the ancient religions together with traditional Africanrnbeliefs and their spiritual elements, made Ethiopia most preferable religious tourism destination inrnAfrica. One of the ample religious sites of the country, Lalibela town, is the study area. The objectives ofrnthis study entitled with 'Religious Tourism Development: The case of Lalibela town Amhara region,rnEthiopia' are identifying the religious tourism development challenges and opportunities, assessingrnmechanisms that help to promote opportunities and minimize the challenges of religious tourismrndevelopment, Analyzing the ways in which religious tourism can serve as a tool in cOllserving heritages,rnempowering conln1unities and bringing sustainable development. The study is both qualitative andrnquanlitUlilJe in its design. Interview, questionnaire non participant observation, and document analysisrnare the main data gathering tools used in this srudy. The qualllitative data collected were analyzed usingrnSPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) and presented through tables, graphs and charts where asrnthe qualitative information lVere precisely narrated. Accordingly, the findings of th e study demonstratedrnthat the town of LaUbela is one of the most impressive religious tourism destinations in Ethiopia. Therntown is endowed with ample religious al/ribu!es. However, there are also challenges influencing therndevelopment of the site as the most successful religious tourism destination in the coU/illy. Thesernchallenges of religious tourism development in LaUbela town are properly identified in this study. Thus,rnminimization or alleviation of all identified challenges and effective promotion and utilization ofrnopportunities with proper involvement of the local communiry would enable religious tourism to be anrneffective instrument for local community empowerment, heritage cOl/servation and sustainablerndevelopmelll iI/ the town as well as the counny at large.rnKev words: Awareness, Challenges, Local Community Monotheistic, Opportunities, ReligiousrnHeritage, Religious Tourism, Sacred, Sustainable development