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Contribution and Challenges of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church for Sustainable Tourism Development: the Case of Gondar City

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Contribution and Challenges of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church for Sustainable Tourism Development: the Case of Gondar City CONTRIBUTION AND CHALLENGES OF ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX TEWAHIDO CHURCH FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF GONDAR CITY A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM MANAGEMENT, COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS, UNIVERSITY OF GONDAR, IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR MASTER OF ARTS IN TOURISM AND HERITAGE MANAGEMENT BY: MELESE MOARETA ADVISOR: BANTALEM TADESSE. (ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR) INTERNAL ADVISOR: YENESEW ALENE (MA) JUNE, 2015 GONDAR, ETHIOPIA CONTRIBUTION AND CHALLENGES OF ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX TEWAHIDO CHURCH FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF GONDAR CITY A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM MANAGEMENT, COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS, UNIVERSITY OF GONDAR, IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR MASTER OF ARTS IN TOURISM AND HERITAGE MANAGEMENT BY: MELESE MOARETA JUNE, 2015 GONDAR, ETHIOPIA APPROVAL SHEET UNIVERSITY OF GONDAR POSTGRADUATE PROGRAMME This is to certify that the thesis prepared by Melese Moareta Shrbeka entitled: “ Contribution and Challenges of Ethiopia Orthodox Tewahido Church for Sustainable Tourism Development in Gondar City, Ethiopia” and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Art complies with the regulation of and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Approval of Board of Examiners 1. Name Signature Date ___________________ _________________ ______________ Chairman, Program or Graduate Committee 2. ___________________ ___________________ ____________ 3. ___________________ ___________________ ____________ 4. ___________________ ___________________ ____________ ii Declaration I, Melese Moareta, hereby declared to the Tourism Management Department, College of Business and Economics, University of Gondar that this thesis entiled “Contribution and Challenges of Ethiopia Orthodox Tewahido Church for Sustainable Tourism Development in Gondar City, Ethiopia” submitted by me for the awarded of degree of Master in Tourism and Heritage Management, is an original work carried out by me and all other sources are duly acknowledged and that it has not been submitted to any other University in part or full for any academic award or diploma or degree. Name: Melese Moareta Signature ---------------------------- Date --------------------------------- This thesis has been submitted for examinations with my approval as a university advisor Name: Bantalem Tadesse (Associate Professor) Signature ---------------------------------- Date --------------------------------------- Name: Yenesew Alene (Master of Art) Signature ------------------------ Date ----------------------------- iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, thanks to Almighty God to prepare a thesis on contribution and challenges of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church: The case of Gondar City, this has helped me a lot to know about the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church. But this thesis was completed due to the special, excellent guidance, constant inspiration, kindness, and contribution from my advisors Ato Bantalem Tadese and Yenesew Alene. Also I would like to express my sincere thanks to all local participants, Gondar city Culture and Tourism administration that participated directly or indirectly and provided assistance and facilities during the study. Furthermore, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation with great respect for their continuous support, advice since the beginning to completion of this thesis. Specially Ato Sisay Sahile, Zemene Guade, Tesfaye Fantaye, Yirdaw Asfaw, Mesele Mengistu and Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church servants. Once more, the researcher would like to express many thanks to my dear friends for a lot of encouragement, comment and their material supports. Finally, deepest gratitude goes to my family whose moral support and inspiration contributed greatly to the successful completion of this study. iv Abstract Tourism industry has a lot of contribution for local community/destination, in reverse, increase negative impacts, if not managed in sustainable way. This study focused on the contribution of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church (EOTC) for sustainable tourism development and it’s challenges. To achieve the objectives of the study, descriptive research design was used. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected. Regarding to source of information, the study used both primary and secondary data on selected samples after observation of heritages. This study used purposive and convenience sampling techniques from subjects. Among hundred eighty (180) respondents: thirty (30) tour guide, one hundred twenty (120) local communities, thirteen (30) tourists used as sample size. In addition to this, the thesis used semi structured interview with twenty (20) interviewees: 14 Church leaders, 3 professionals, and 3 Gondar city culture and tourism office employees. The types were both open ended and close ended type of questionnaire. The researcher surveyed and discussed about the issue of Economic contribution for local community direct and indirect way. Also, EOTC has socio-cultural contribution for Local. Furthermore it has environmental contribution for local community and sustainable tourism development by foresting every Church. The study revealed about theft and illicit trafficking of heritages, management problem, globalization, lack of awareness, lack of skilled manpower, lack of coordination with stakeholder and weak promotional works. Furthermore, this study found that; lack of concentration from the scholars, government bodies and researchers as one of the great challenges. For these reasons, most of Gondar city EOTC heritages are destroying and tearing, According to this study most of local communities and some scholars have negative attitudes for carnival which is preparing in Gonder city with Epiphany and most of younger part is follower of western culture. Finally, expertly recommendations are proided. Key terms: EOTC, Gondar, Sustainable Tourism development and stakeholders. v Table of Contents Declaration .................................................................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................................... iv Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... v Abbreviations and Acronyms .................................................................................................... x Chapter one ................................................................................................................................ 1 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Back ground of study .......................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Statements of the Problem .................................................................................................. 3 1.3. Objectives of the study........................................................................................................ 5 1.3.1. General Objectives ........................................................................................................... 5 1.3.2. Specific Objectives .......................................................................................................... 5 1.4. Research Questions ............................................................................................................. 5 1.5. Significance of the Study .................................................................................................... 5 1.6. Scope of the Study .............................................................................................................. 6 1.7. Organization of the Thesis .................................................................................................. 6 1.8 Problems and Limitations of thesis ...................................................................................... 7 1.9. Operational defination ........................................................................................................ 7 CHAPTER TWO ....................................................................................................................... 8 2. Literature Review................................................................................................................... 8 2.1 Principles of Religious Sustainable Tourism ....................................................................... 8 2.2. Religious tourist attraction .................................................................................................. 9 2.3. Contribution to the Dialogue among Religions, Cultures and Civilizations ...................... 9 2.4. Religious heritages for STD (Socio-Cultural, Economic, Environmental) contribution .. 10 2.5. Impacts of tourism on Religious sites ............................................................................... 12 2.6. Some Treasure of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church ............................................... 14 2.7. Heritages of the study area ................................................................................................ 16 CHAPTER THREE ..................................................................................................................................
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