CBI supports Ethiopian tourism initiative

Since 2019, CBI has been supporting a group of 19 inbound tour operators in Ethiopia with their marketing and promotion activities via the Sustainable Tourism Ethiopia project. During the project, the companies started the Ethiopia Travel Specialists collective, which already has its own website and personal video interviews. And after ITB Berlin 2023, the collective launched a new LinkedIn business page and a mailing list.

A new marketing approach

Many of the Ethiopia Travel Specialists are already very active in promoting their sustainable offers, like short and long-stay products and cultural and special interest tours and trips. But, this year, the collective also decided to use a direct marketing approach.

As such, Ethiopia Travel Specialists launched a LinkedIn business page and a new mailing list. The specialists aim to communicate insights into their daily work and their focus on tourism through these channels. The collective also hopes to invite direct communication between European buyers and the 19 highly-enthusiastic Ethiopian tour operators.

Strength in collaboration

The companies in the collective are all part of the CBI Sustainable Tourism Ethiopia project. They saw the benefits of using the collective strengths of all the specialists and, as a result, established the Ethiopia Travel Specialists. The collective focused on 4 key ways to improve marketing knowledge and know-how of European B2B travel markets. These were:

1. Training to gain further insight into the diversity of the European markets, clients and trends. As a result, many of the Ethiopia Travel Specialists became Travelife Partners. And a few even became Travelife Certified accredited. They learnt how to organise themselves better and how to use all aspects of digitalisation in tourism.
2. Networking and exchanging ideas to develop new concepts. This resulted in joint activities and products.
3. Sharing resources and working together daily. For example, the collective worked together to use minibuses, vehicles and guides more efficiently. They also worked together to increase buying power when contracting accommodations.
4. A joint marketing approach. Each company developed an export marketing plan with unique features. But, as a group, the companies organise (virtual) roadshows, webinars, and trade fair attendance. The collective also has a promotion portal showcasing all the Ethiopia Travel Specialists and their offers.

Learn more

For more information about the Ethiopia Travel Specialists, visit the Ethiopia Travel Specialists website. If you would like to learn more about the CBI project, visit the Sustainable Tourism Ethiopia project page.

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