Tourism in Ethiopia
Ethiopia recorded a total of 812,000 tourists in 2019, ranking 144th 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 0.0072 tourists per resident, Ethiopia ranked 195th in the world. In Eastern Africa, it ranked 16th.
Ethiopia generated around 3.55 bn US Dollar in the tourism sector alone. This corresponds to 3.7 percent of its the gross domestic product and approximately 25 percent of all international tourism receipts in Eastern Africa.
A global comparison can be found here › International tourism
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On average, each of the tourists arriving in 2018 spent about 3,733 US Dollars.
Development of the tourism sector in Ethiopia from 1995 to 2019
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 as 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 in tourism
In 1995, tourism revenues amounted to 177.00 m 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 23 years, the country's dependence on tourism has increased noticeably. In the last year of the survey, the revenue now amounts to 3.55 bn USD, accounting for 4.2 percent of the gross national product. Each visitor now spends an average of 4,179 USD for his holiday in Ethiopia.
All data for Ethiopia in detail
Year | Number | Receipts | % of GNP | Income |
---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 812,000 | |||
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 $ |
All data correspond to the information of the World Tourism Organization.