TESFA, Ethiopia

TESFA (Tourism in Ethiopia for Sustainable Future Alternatives) is committed to developing the infrastructure and capacity of communities to host tourists and to develop their own enterprises to capitalize on the opportunities. The focus will be on creating in partnership with communities a sustainable tourism enterprise that can function as a model for the rest of the country. Key issues include developing a strong sense of community ownership, transparent and democratic community run institutions to manage the tourism at village level and higher up to ensure its economic sustainability. In addition, TESFA has a strong commitment to environmental protection and, where possible, improvement, as well as to protecting local culture from the being weakened by the development of a rural tourism industry.

The objective of the project is to develop small scale, community managed tourism enterprises as a means of generating:

• new sources of paid employment
• sustainable (trade not aid) funds for community-led asset development and protection
• new markets for local products (and stimulating existing service businesses)
• local confidence, skills and organizational management for micro-enterprise development
• a new model for tourism that minimizes negative impacts on local culture, values and environment

SDT currently supports TESFA's activities through our marketing efforts in Europe and through representation at leading international tourism fairs. Potentially, there are possibilities to also get involved on the ground with the provision of technical support, although no concrete plans exist at the moment.

Contact: chapman@ethionet.et
Website: http://community-tourism-ethiopia.com