Assessment of Nature Tourism Potential, in Rural Development in West Wollega Zone in The Case of Sayo Nole and Nole Kaba Districts, Ethiopia

Abstract

Tourism is not just the temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal places. Tourism includes many geographic, economic, environmental, social, cultural and political dimensions. A tourism industry has a strong relationship with those dimensions because of its dependency and impact on it, and the interests of its stakeholders (Kauffmann 2008).

As stated by Sinha (2007) the study of tourism is the study of people away from their usual habitat of the establishments which responds to the requirement of travelers and the impact of that they have on the economic physical and social well-being of their hosts. Tourism is an attractive tool for economic development, specifically in the developing world. Viewed as an export industry of three Gs -- "get them in, get their Money, and get them out" – tourism has assisted many developing countries to move away from a dependency on agriculture and manufacturing (Tooman, 1997. 

Chosen forits ability to bring in needed foreign exchange earnings, income and employment, tourism has become a popular addition to economic development policies in many African, Asian, South and Central American countries. Although tourism seems to beading substantially to the economic growth of many of these regions, many developing countries are not reaping full benefits from tourism (Vaugeois, 1990).

Tourism in Ethiopia dates back to the pre-Axumite period when the first illustrated travel guides to Ethiopia can be found in the friezes of the pyramids and ancient sites of Egypt. These depicted travels to the land of Punt, which the Egyptians knew was the source of the Nile, and where they traded for gold, incense, ivory and slaves. The fourth century Persian historian Mani described the Kingdom of Axum as being one of the four great empires of the world, ranking it alongside China, Persia and Rome (World Bank, 2006). Modern tourism in Ethiopia can be said to have started with the formation of a government body to develop and control it in 1961: The Ethiopian Tourist Organization (Y.Mulualem, 2010).