Ethiopia recorded a total of 518,000 tourists in 2020, ranking 126th in the world in absolute terms.
The fact that larger countries regularly perform better in a comparison of the absolute number of guests is obvious. By putting the tourist numbers in relation to the population of Ethiopia, the result is much more comparable picture: With 0.0043 tourists per resident, Ethiopia ranked 194th in the world. In Eastern Africa, it ranked 15th.
In 2020, Ethiopia generated around 2.28 billion US dollars in the tourism sector alone. This corresponds to 2.1 percent of its the gross domestic product and approximately 54 percent of all international tourism receipts in Eastern Africa.
On average, each of the tourists arriving in 2020 spent about 3,725 US dollars.
Development of the tourism sector in Ethiopia from 1995 to 2020
The following chart shows the number of tourist arrivals registered in Ethiopia each year. Anyone who spends at least one night in the country but does not live there for more than 12 months is considered a tourist. Insofar as the survey included the purpose of the trip, business trips and other non-tourism travel purposes have already been excluded. The number of people passing through within the same day, and e.g., crew members of ships or flights are also not considered tourists in most countries. If the same person travels in and out more than once within the same year, each visit counts again.
The red line represents the average of all 16 countries in Eastern Africa.
Revenues from tourism
In 1995, tourism revenues amounted to 177.00 million USD, or about 2.3 percent of the gross national product. This corresponded to about 103,000 tourists at that time and roughly 1,718 USD per person. Within 25 years, the country's dependence on tourism has increased noticeably. Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, sales were $3.53 billion billion, 3.7 percent of gross national product. Thus, each visitor spent an average of $4,346 on their vacation in Ethiopia.
In 2020, tourist receipts plummeted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the $3.53 billion billion (2019), only $2.28 billion billion remained. This is a 35 percent decrease in Ethiopia.
All data for Ethiopia in detail
Year
Number of tourists
Receipts
% of GNP
Receipts per tourist
2020
518,000
2.28 bn $
2.1 %
4,405 $
2019
812,000
3.53 bn $
3.7 %
4,346 $
2018
849,000
3.55 bn $
4.2 %
4,179 $
2017
933,000
2.51 bn $
3.1 %
2,685 $
2016
871,000
2.14 bn $
2.9 %
2,455 $
2015
864,000
2.28 bn $
3.5 %
2,638 $
2014
770,000
2.11 bn $
3.8 %
2,736 $
2013
681,000
2.24 bn $
4.7 %
3,283 $
2012
597,000
1.98 bn $
4.6 %
3,317 $
2011
523,000
2.00 bn $
6.3 %
3,820 $
2010
468,000
1.43 bn $
4.8 %
3,064 $
2009
427,000
1.12 bn $
3.4 %
2,621 $
2008
383,000
1.18 bn $
4.4 %
3,091 $
2007
358,000
790.00 m $
4.0 %
2,207 $
2006
330,000
639.00 m $
4.2 %
1,936 $
2005
227,000
533.00 m $
4.3 %
2,348 $
2004
184,000
458.00 m $
4.5 %
2,489 $
2003
180,000
336.00 m $
3.9 %
1,867 $
2002
156,000
261.00 m $
3.3 %
1,673 $
2001
148,000
218.00 m $
2.6 %
1,473 $
2000
136,000
205.00 m $
2.5 %
1,507 $
1999
115,000
176.00 m $
2.3 %
1,530 $
1998
112,000
152.00 m $
1.9 %
1,357 $
1997
139,000
157.00 m $
1.8 %
1,129 $
1996
109,000
170.00 m $
2.0 %
1,560 $
1995
103,000
177.00 m $
2.3 %
1,718 $
Our data on tourist numbers, revenues and expenditures are based on information from the World Tourism Organization. However, to ensure international comparability, the data for some years or countries were manually researched and corrected if they obviously included visitors without overnight stays. In these cases, the data were taken from the official communications of the respective national tourism authorities.
The World Tourism Organization additionally points out that in some countries, the number of tourists is only counted at airports, while in others they are also counted at border crossings or even hotels. A comprehensive and reliable indication is therefore hardly possible in any country.
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