Marketing Strategy for Wildlife Tourism in Ethiopia Marketing Strategy for Wildlife Tourism in Ethiopia Development of a Marketing Strategy for Wildlife Tourism in Ethiopia Draft Final Report Findings of the Development Team: Martyn Murray and Biniyam Admassu Prepared for EWCA Ethiopia 27 th January 2013 4 Marketing Strategy for Wildlife Tourism in Ethiopia Come to Ethiopia’s National Parks You can see much farther by climbing to a high place 5 Marketing Strategy for Wildlife Tourism in Ethiopia Development of a Marketing Strategy for Wildlife Tourism in Ethiopia Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 9 1.1 TOURISM POLICIES ....................................................................................................... 9 1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ........................................................................................ 10 1.3 CONSULTANT ’S APPROACH ........................................................................................ 10 2. STATE OF WILDLIFE HERITAGE................................................................ 12 2.1 BIODIVERSITY ............................................................................................................. 12 2.2 PROTECTED AREAS ..................................................................................................... 12 2.2.1 Categories of Protected Area ................................................................................ 12 2.2.2 Distribution of Protected Areas ............................................................................. 14 2.2.3 Management Authorities ....................................................................................... 15 3. STATE OF WILDLIFE TOURISM .................................................................. 17 3.1 TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN PROTECTED AREAS ....................................................... 17 3.2 VISITORS TO ETHIOPIA ’S PROTECTED AREAS ............................................................ 18 4. DEVELOPING A MARKETING STRATEGY ............................................... 20 4.1 WILDLIFE TOURISM IN ETHIOPIA ............................................................................... 20 4.2 SWOT ANALYSIS OF PA S AS TOURIST DESTINATIONS .............................................. 20 4.3 MARKETING WILDLIFE TOURISM ............................................................................... 23 4.4 SELECTION OF PROTECTED AREAS ............................................................................. 24 4.5 WILDLIFE TOURISM CIRCUITS .................................................................................... 25 5. DEVELOPING TOURISM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ........................... 26 5.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 26 5.2 DEVELOPMENT OF WILDLIFE TOURISM PRODUCTS ................................................... 27 5.2.1 Montane and Afroalpine PAs ................................................................................. 27 5.2.2 Rift Valley PAs ....................................................................................................... 28 5.2.3 South-Western Migratory Ecosystem .................................................................... 36 5.3 PROTECTED AREAS AND CLUSTER TOURISM ............................................................. 38 5.3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 38 5.3.2 Products outside the park ...................................................................................... 39 5.3.3 Wildlife Tourism Circuits ...................................................................................... 40 5.3.4 Specialist Circuits .................................................................................................. 41 6. INFORMATION PRODUCTS FOR WILDLIFE TOURISM ........................ 44 6.1 INFORMATION PRODUCTS ........................................................................................... 44 6.2 PUBLISHING AND DISTRIBUTING ................................................................................ 45 6.3 MONITORING AND EVALUATION ................................................................................ 46 6.3.1 Tourism data compilation ...................................................................................... 46 6.3.2 Trip Evaluation form ............................................................................................. 46 6.3.3 Planning system ..................................................................................................... 46 6 Marketing Strategy for Wildlife Tourism in Ethiopia 7. MARKETING AND BRANDING ..................................................................... 48 7.1 BRAND AND BRANDING .............................................................................................. 48 7.1.1 Logo, Tagline and Slogan ...................................................................................... 48 7.2 WILDLIFE TOURISM MARKETING AND IMAGE ENHANCEMENT ................................. 49 7.2.1 The Unique Mammals............................................................................................ 49 7.2.2 Diversity of Birds ................................................................................................... 50 7.2.3 Flowers of Africa ................................................................................................... 50 7.3 BRANDING WILDLIFE ................................................................................................. 50 7.4 DEVELOPING MATERIALS FOR MARKETING WILDLIFE TOURISM .............................. 51 7.5 MARKET LAUNCH ....................................................................................................... 53 7.5.1 Meeting of Tour Operators and Traders ............................................................... 53 7.5.2 Training of Stakeholders on Tourism Products ..................................................... 54 7.5.3 Bird Watching and Training of Guides ................................................................. 54 7.5.4 ‘Fam Trip’ for Outbound Tour Operators ............................................................ 54 7.5.5 Trailer Video for Ethiopian Airlines ..................................................................... 55 7.5.6 Tourism Trade Fairs.............................................................................................. 55 7.5.7 Advertising ............................................................................................................. 55 7.6 RECOGNITION AND AWARDING (R&A) ...................................................................... 55 7.7 TOURISM PRODUCT PRICE .......................................................................................... 56 7.7.1 Admission to Parks - Price Review ....................................................................... 56 7.7.2 Recommended Price of Entry to Ethiopian Protected Areas ................................. 59 7.8 LOW -VOLUME , HIGH -VALUE TOURISM ? ..................................................................... 59 8. CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES ............................................................................... 61 8.1 IMPROVING PARK MANAGEMENT IN SUPPORT OF TOURISM ...................................... 61 8.1.2 Road Maintenance ................................................................................................. 61 8.1.3 Vehicle Maintenance ............................................................................................. 61 8.1.4 Vegetation Management ........................................................................................ 62 8.1.5 Training in Tourism Services ................................................................................ 62 8.2 CONNECTING TOURISM TO THE COMMUNITY ............................................................. 63 8.2.1 Benefit Sharing ...................................................................................................... 63 8.2.2 Regulation of Community Tourism Services ......................................................... 64 8.2.3 Use of guidelines and systems developed by FZS/BMNP ...................................... 64 8.2.4 Illegal grazing and farming ................................................................................... 65 8.3 COST OF TOURISM PRODUCTS ..................................................................................... 65 8.3.1 Park Budgets and Core Activities .......................................................................... 65 8.4 PRIVATE SECTOR PARTNERSHIP ................................................................................. 66 9. IMPLEMENTATION OF MARKETING STRATEGY ................................. 67 9.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 67 9.2 ONE YEAR PLAN – DEVELOPING WILDLIFE TOURISM CIRCUITS ............... 70 1. Wildlife Tourism Circuits ...................................................................................... 70 2. Joint Planning Meeting for Wildlife Tourism Development .................................. 71 3. Training Workshop for Preparing 1-Year Tourism Development Plans ............... 72 4. Implementation of TDPs and Monitoring .............................................................