The Challenges and Opportunities of Event Organizers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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Date
2019-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Event organizers are playing a significant role for the MICE tourism development through
marketing the country as a MICE destination and creating new jobs and income for the host
community. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the challenges and opportunities of
event organizers in Addis Ababa in their role for tourism development. This study begins with
identifying the current situation of the MICE industry and event organizers in the city. For the
fulfillment of this, the study employed a qualitative approach. The subjects of the study were
selected by using purposive sampling. In-depth interviews were conducted to collect the
qualitative data. As a result, sixteen interviewees having direct involvement in the MICE industry
were selected and responded to the interviews. The qualitative data collected and analyzed
through interpretative account of the data; and the major findings of the study are discussed and
presented. Accordingly, the results obtained through interviews, document analysis and
observation indicated that Addis Ababa’s MICE Sector and its players specifically the event
organizers have both the challenges and opportunities. Hence the challenges include mainly the
limited awareness about MICE and the organizers, substandard facilities and services, budget
constraint, time constraint, limited education and training, problem in VISA facilitation, lack of
international representation, limited safety and security, lack of national convention bureau, and
weak event organizers association. Whereas, the opportunities include the city as a center of
political and economic diplomacy, the increasing government attention, the rich cultural and
tourism resources as well as the location and air access. Therefore, it was concluded that the
event organizers in Addis Ababa are playing a significant role towards the development of the
MICE sector of the country struggling with a lot of challenges and hoping for a lot of
opportunities. Since the government’s attention and interest is increasing these days, the
national convention bureau should be established under the federal tourism authority to be the
dedicated body to represent the country in the international market, strengthen the MICE sector
and support the players.