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Walia Special Edition on the Bale Mountains (2011) - Zoologische ...

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Tourism and Protected Areas: Tourism Development in <strong>the</strong> <strong>Bale</strong> <strong>Mountains</strong> Nati<strong>on</strong>al<br />

Park<br />

Biniyam Admasu 1 , Addisu Asefa 2 and Anouska A. Kinahan 1*<br />

1 Frankfurt Zoological Society, <strong>Bale</strong> <strong>Mountains</strong> C<strong>on</strong>servati<strong>on</strong> Project, PO Box 165, Robe, Ethiopia<br />

2 <strong>Bale</strong> <strong>Mountains</strong> Nati<strong>on</strong>al Park, PO Box 107, Goba, Ethiopia<br />

*Email: anouskakinahan@fzs.org<br />

Abstract<br />

Tourism is <strong>on</strong>e of <strong>the</strong> fastest growing industries globally and is a very important industry providing<br />

over 50% of <strong>the</strong> GDP in 49 of <strong>the</strong> least developed countries and many local benefits such as<br />

employment and improved infrastructure. As <strong>the</strong> demand for appreciative, experience and learning<br />

tourism increases, and with increasing awareness of social injustices and envir<strong>on</strong>mental protecti<strong>on</strong>,<br />

more people are looking towards low impact tourism and/or community-based tourism development<br />

initiatives. The Ethiopian government is increasingly placing eco-tourism development <strong>on</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

nati<strong>on</strong>al agenda. Since <strong>the</strong> <strong>Bale</strong> <strong>Mountains</strong> Nati<strong>on</strong>al Park (BMNP) is <strong>on</strong>e of <strong>the</strong> most important<br />

protected areas in <strong>the</strong> country, BMNP is likely to be a key player in realising <strong>the</strong>se initiatives. BMNP’s<br />

unique natural heritage and outstanding beauty and diverse attracti<strong>on</strong>s have great tourism potential.<br />

However, <strong>the</strong> presence of some critical challenges and c<strong>on</strong>straints, such as poor accessibility, poor<br />

infrastructure and lack of marketing and available funds, all currently inhibit BMNP from fulfilling<br />

its tourism potential. Despite this, with <strong>the</strong> development of a new General Management Plan,<br />

strategies for developing new partnerships and better funding and marketing will be positive steps<br />

towards realising BMNP’s envir<strong>on</strong>mental and cultural tourism value.<br />

Introducti<strong>on</strong><br />

A tourist is defined as ‘any pers<strong>on</strong> visiting a country o<strong>the</strong>r than that which is his/her usual place of<br />

residence, for any reas<strong>on</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r than following an occupati<strong>on</strong> remunerated from within <strong>the</strong> country<br />

visited’ (United Nati<strong>on</strong>s 1963). Today, tourism is <strong>on</strong>e of <strong>the</strong> fastest growing industries globally<br />

(Telfer 2006). This increase in global tourism can be attributed to a number of factors. Advances<br />

in health care mean that people live l<strong>on</strong>ger and hence <strong>the</strong> proporti<strong>on</strong> of <strong>the</strong> global populati<strong>on</strong> able<br />

to travel is larger. Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore, a general increase in income, particularly in developed countries,<br />

affords people <strong>the</strong> opportunity to travel more than before and access to informati<strong>on</strong> technology and<br />

increasing travel opti<strong>on</strong>s are fur<strong>the</strong>r factors encouraging people to travel more widely and frequently<br />

(Eagles et al. 2002).<br />

Domestic tourism accounts for 80% of all tourism activity (Neto 2002). Internati<strong>on</strong>al tourism<br />

<str<strong>on</strong>g>Walia</str<strong>on</strong>g>-<str<strong>on</strong>g>Special</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>Editi<strong>on</strong></str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Bale</strong> <strong>Mountains</strong> 282

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