Contribution of Cultural Heritage to Sustainable Tourism Development in Ethiopia: Evidences from Lalibela Rock Hewn Church
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Date
2019-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The rock hewn churches of Lalibela are among the nine tangible sites in Ethiopia registered in
the world heritage list. The study was carried out to asses and identifies the major contributions
of Lalibela Rock Hewn Churches (RHCL) to sustainable tourism development in Ethiopia. The
study used concurrent mixed method of data collection such as questionnaire, interview,
observation and document review. A total of 288 respondents from local communities and visitors
were used for collecting primary information via semi-structured questioner. In addition, 10
representatives of local communities were interviewed in the course of the study. The life of local
community in Lalibela is related to the churches: physically the peoples live around them,
economically the churches are the main sources of income, and spiritually the peoples belong to
the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church. The majority of respondents are participating in
tourism sector such as in accommodation, shopping, hotel, cooking and traditional performance,
serving as priest and being experts in the city administration office of culture and tourism.
Despite its importance, regarding the negative impact of tourism; the majority of respondents 70
(63.6%) agreed and 27 (24.3%) disagree for the question “tourism has increased the level of
commercialized the culture in Lalibela town. Around 87.6% of the respondents were their first
trip to visit the RHCL. The majority of the respondents 57 (32%) came to Lalibela mainly to visit
the rock-hewn churches after they got information from their friends and colleagues. The majority
of visitors 103 (58%) estimated that the state of degradation of the RHCL within the next ten
years might be between 41-70%. Hence, among the RHCL Bete Amanuel, Bete Abba Libanos,
Bete Medhanealem, Bete Merkorios, Bete Giorgis are highly endangered in the parts such as
roof, pillars, interior and exterior parts cracking due to the newly constructed shelter load and
geological, climate and biological factors. The conservation and maintenance works used to
sustain tourism practices in Lalibela lacks adequacy. Therefore, the responsible parties of the
RHCL such as government organizations, local community, civil societies and development
investors must work to meet standards for conserving and sustaining tourism development
practices in Ethiopia, particularly in Lalibela.
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Keywords
Conservation, Ethiopia, RHCL, Sustainable, Tourism