Message from the Head of the Southern Ethiopia Regional Tourism Bureau
The Southern Ethiopia Regional State is a region that holds a prominent place in the tourism sector of our country with its unique natural beauty, rich cultural values, historical heritage and ecological resources.
The region is home to 32 nations and nationalities living in peace and harmony, and this cultural diversity is an irreplaceable asset for tourism development. The region is known for its natural resources, and has an ecosystem that includes various wild animals, bird species and very rich flora.
The Konso, Gedeo Cultural Landscapes and the Lower Omo Valley Archaeological Sites, which are registered by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites, as well as the Wolaita Gifata Transfiguration Festival, which is registered by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage, are key resources of the region that highlight the global tourism value of the region.
In addition, the Gamo “Dubusha” and “Dubusha Woga” system, which is a manifestation of the Gamo ethnicity, has reached the final stage of recognition as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO, and the necessary documentation and technical work is underway to register the Derashe Fila with UNESCO, which will further strengthen the region’s tourism competitiveness.
The region is home to four of the country’s 27 national parks, namely Maze, Mago, White Grass and Omo National Parks, as well as the Tama Community Reserve, the Murle Controlled Hunting Kebele and the only crocodile ranch in East Africa.
After the sector was organized as a tourism bureau by the regional council’s executive bodies in accordance with Proclamation No. 84/2017, it was organized into three sectors: tourism destination and infrastructure development sector, parks development and wildlife conservation and management sector, and tourism promotion and marketing sector, indicating the government’s focus on the sector.
The bureau is working hard to make the tourism sector a major pillar of economic growth by scientifically studying, protecting, developing, and effectively promoting the region’s natural, cultural, and historical resources.
This is playing a significant role in creating job opportunities, expanding income sources, and ensuring sustainable development, in addition to benefiting local communities.
Protecting this great resource and passing it on to future generations is not only the government’s responsibility, but also the collective responsibility of all of us. Therefore, I would like to convey my message to the nations and nationalities of the region, the private sector, development partners, and other stakeholders, standing by the office, and working in a united spirit to ensure that we achieve maximum economic benefits by preserving peace, preserving, developing, and promoting our natural and cultural resources, and entering the global tourism market.
Thank you!
SOUTH ETHIOPIA REGION OF TOURISM BUREAU
Background
The Southern Ethiopia Regional State Government was established as a separate regional state from the former Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region, based on the Regional Government Charter No. 1/2015, under the name “Southern Ethiopia Regional State.” Accordingly, to establish executive bodies and determine their powers and functions, the Bureau of Culture and Tourism was formed under Proclamation No. 3/2015.
The Bureau is internally organized around four main work processes. Its responsibilities include preserving, documenting, and promoting the cultural, linguistic, historical, artistic, and natural tourism resources of the region’s nations, nationalities, and peoples in an organized and systematic manner. It also ensures sustainable use and equitable access to these resources, providing political, social, and economic benefits.
To further strengthen public engagement and participation, and in response to evolving circumstances, the Regional Council revised the Bureau’s organizational structure under Proclamation No. 84/2017. This gave the Bureau the authority to operate independently at the Bureau level.
The sector focuses on research, classification, preservation, and passing tourism resources to future generations. It also conducts strong promotion and marketing activities to publicize the region’s cultural, natural, and man-made assets to the global community, thereby contributing to the region’s social and economic development.
The Bureau is located in one of the region’s six major cities Konso-Karat—home to the Konso Cultural Landscape, a site registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, ensuring its work is directly linked to significant cultural and tourism resources.
Vision
By 2022, we will make the tourism sector one of the primary foundations of national prosperity.
Mission
To create a sustainable and competitive tourism industry and ensure superior social, economic and ecological benefits by studying the cultural, historical and natural tourism resources of our region, preserving, developing, promoting and building the positive image of our region through community participation and stakeholder coordination.
Values
- Respect for
- diversity
- Hospitality
- Transparency
- Accountability
- Readiness for change
- Service excellence
- Involvement
- our Customers
- Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of the region
- Visitors
- Research institutions and researchers
- Private investors or organizations engaged in the sector
- Investors, associations, clubs involved in the tourism sector
- Clubs and civic associations
- our Stakeholders
- Governmental & none Governmental Organizations
- Local communities
- Religious institutions
- Charitable organizations
- Investors, associations, clubs involved in the tourism sector
- Researchers
Duties and Responsibilities
- It formulates policies, strategies, and legal frameworks that ensure the continuity of tourism development, prepares detailed operational plans aligned with regional and national development directions, and implements them practically.
- It promotes tourism by publicizing the region’s scenic beauty and tourism assets both domestically and internationally.
- It differentiates and publicizes the region’s tourism, community-based, and eco-tourism facilities to make them suitable and competitive for the tourism market.
- By conducting tourism market research, exploring the market, and establishing market linkages, it enhances the economic contribution of the sector.
- It facilitates the development of new tourism facilities, develops existing tourism destinations, and ensures tourism products and services are improved in quality and quantity to become competitive.
- It ensures the preservation, protection, and tourism-appropriate utilization of the region’s natural heritage.
- It categorizes the region’s heritage and develops new tourism facilities based on existing heritage, registers them according to international heritage standards, ensures restoration and maintenance, and provides professional support.
- It establishes a market brand for the region’s tourism assets, promotes them, and ensures their recognition.
- It promotes the expansion of sports, exhibition, and conference tourism within the region.
- It ensures the preservation, protection, and tourism-appropriate utilization of the region’s natural and man-made tourism resources.
- It supports the sector through technology, research, and studies, enhancing the region’s economy and monitoring implementation.
- It ensures national parks, protected areas, community conservation areas, and wildlife habitats contribute to the community’s economic benefits.
- It establishes systems to encourage private sector participation and involvement in tourism development, creating favorable conditions for implementation.
- It categorizes tourist service providers by level.
- It issues service competency certificates to actors in hotels and tourism services within the region.
- It evaluates star-rated hotels and similar service providers in the region.
- It collaborates with tourism stakeholders—including government, community, associations, and private actors—to ensure quality tourism products and services.
- It facilitates favorable conditions for the regional tourism advisory council to perform its supervisory role.
- It identifies and registers heritage that can and cannot be developed, prevents illegal heritage exploitation, and collaborates with relevant stakeholders to restore damaged heritage.
- It ensures legal ownership, certification, and administrative plans for heritage in cooperation with relevant bodies.
- It studies entrance and other service fees at tourism destinations and facilities within the region.
- It collects, consolidates, disseminates, and reports tourism-related information, evaluates project ideas, and communicates investment approvals to relevant parties.
- It establishes and manages wildlife shelters and parks that are essential for the tourism market.
- It ensures the protection of regional parks, monitors and supports their development and administration.
- In collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and the regional Planning and Development Bureau, it develops a tourism satellite account system integrated into regional and national economic accounts.
Services We Provide
- Providing basic development, expansion, and improvement services for tourist attraction sites
- Conducting research, protection, conservation, and development of tourist attractions
- Monitoring and supporting tourist attraction sites
- Providing training and awareness creation for stakeholders
- Issuing competency certifications and support letters for trained tourism service providers
- Controlling, monitoring, and supporting attraction sites
- Issuing construction permits for service–providing institutions to be built within attraction areas