Exploring Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities in the Ethiopian Tourism Information System
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Date
2009-10
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This research was conducted to explore the trends, challenges and
opportunities of Tourism Information Systems (TIS) in Ethiopia with a special
emphasis on tourism websites. Two surveys were conducted: while the first one
dealt with tourism institutions, the second dealt with tourists. In the first case
questionnaires, mainly, and interviews, to fill gaps, were employed as methods
of data collection. In the second survey only questionnaires were used because
of the large number of visitors. The data gathered were analyzed using the
Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) and simple descriptive
statistics like the mode (frequency) was used to explain the empirical findings.
Tables were used for data presentation, based on which comparisons were
made.
The results of the study reveal that, embarking with the then “Thirteen Months
of Sunshine” manual ad sign; the Ethiopian TIS is now experiencing the
opportunities presented by modern information technology such as websites.
There is a promising awareness about modern information systems among the
businesses, but in its infancy. Major challenges identified by the study include:
gaps between businesses’ and the tourists’ perceptions about the local tourism
websites, missing website components and inability to fully harness the
Internet. Yet, there are some opportunities created by the Web for such tourism
businesses. The study also provides some recommendations towards TIS for
tourism businesses in the nation.
Keywords: Ethiopia, Tourism, Website, Information Systems
Description
Keywords
Ethiopia, Tourism, Website, Information Systems