A real street party

It is speculated that anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 guests are expected for the New Ethiopian Millennium celebrations next September. This influx will be composed of foreign based Ethiopians, considerable numbers of foreigners attracted by the unique occasion and the regular tourist crowd.
The matter of accommodations is going to be a nightmare and not for just the visiting celebrants, but for Addis Ababa's yet nascent hotel sector. There are approximately only 1,000 hotel establishments with a combined capacity of under 10,000 beds. This includes star rated international hotels, medium standard hotels, inns, motels and family run operations
Over 80% of these rooms are sub-standard flea traps and hardly fit for local patronage much less to host visitors from abroad. Developers are frantically scurrying to complete several large hotels in time for the New Millennium party, but it is all too little too late - or as we Ethiopians say 'Sergegna Meta Berbere Qentisu'.
Event organizers are running the huge risk of the anticipated number of guests decreasing drastically as potential visitors cancel trips after finding out Addis hasn't prepared lodgings. So much for the legendary Ethiopian hospitality.
A city that calls itself the political capital of Africa and hosts more international organizations and summits than any African city should have had better hotel infrastructure. Even the rapid increase in the number of entertainment and hotel outlets during the last several years has not made an appreciable difference.
Ethiopia has yet to formulate the political will necessary in order to make tourism a bulwark of the economy. Countries with comparatively lesser tourism assets attract large numbers of travelers primarily by having developed dependable accommodation and other tourism infrastructure.
A cursory glance at the latest statistics reveals that the worldwide travel industry is the fastest growing sector and is valued at over 1 trillion dollars a year. The industry grew by 11% in 2004 and registered 763 million international tourist arrivals. This growth continued in 2005 and during 2006 nearly 900 million tourists will have traversed the globe. Needless to say tourism inflow to Africa accounted for less than 2% of this monumental figure.
The top tourist destinations in Africa are Egypt, Tunisia, Morroco, South Africa and Kenya, in that order. In each of these nations, tourism not only plays a role but is rather a vital artery of their economies. East African tourism is mainly a Kenyan industry with an up and coming Tanzania in second place. So where does Ethiopia stand in comparison? The short and simple answer is that tourism in Ethiopia is not yet robust enough to be termed as an industry.
The reasons for why Ethiopia's tourism sector is so anemic are the usual lame excuses of general poverty and socio-political instability that presumably retarded overall development. It certainly can't be for lack of tourist attractions or an absence of historical and archeological treasures.
With all due respect to ancient Carthage and Humphrey Bogart's Casablanca, of the above mentioned African countries, only Egypt can by courtesy of its pharaonic past, arguably claim a higher profile than Ethiopia. None of these countries can hold a candle against Ethiopia's natural assets of flora and fauna, majestic peaks, mighty rivers and percolating volcanoes not to mention the rich mosaic of peoples.
It can be said in all confidence that with a well developed tourism industry, Ethiopia with all its inherent wealth may become Africa’s top tourist destination. However, developing a viable tourism industry is a long term effort that will not solve the pressing problem of where to house the Millennium guests. The Ethiopian Millennium Festival Council and the various authorized organizing committees must devise ways in which residents of Addis can be involved in the provision of accommodation. This may be achieved by giving out temporary hotel licenses. This seems to be the only solution if the intensive and expensive effort of staging the New Millennium celebrations is not to reflect badly on Ethiopia and further distance us from the tourist path.