POTENTIALS, CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT, IN THE CASE OF BASSOLIBEN WOREDA: AHMARA REGION, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Tourism is one of the important industry for the economic sector. Studying the potential resources of an area is significant to the development of tourism for economic progress. This paper attended to discuss the potentials challenges and prospects of tourism development in Bassoliben woreda. Ethiopia as well as Ahmara region were the potential areas with tourism resources. The study area which was one of the woreda in Amharic region was not yet studied and identified with its potential tourism resources. This study attempt to assess the tourism potentials, challenges and prospects in Bassoliben woreda. The researcher developed three specific objectives and questions for the study. The research objectives were, what are the potential tourism resources, what are the challenges and prospects of tourism development. The researcher suggests that the study will important for the woreda culture and tourism office and other stakeholders in different tourism activities. The study conducted in selected six potential Kebeles. The researcher used 159 questionnaire respondents and 31 interview informants, totally 190 sample size used in the study. The paper was organized with five chapters. Chapter one states about the reason why the study is conducted and the objectives and questions the study going to address. Chapter two discuss about review of related literature discuss about the concept of tourism, the tourism potentials of Ethiopia, challenges and prospects of tourism. The study use descriptive research type and both qualitative and quantitative research approaches used in the study. The participants in this study are tourism experts in woreda and zone culture and tourism office Bassoliben woreda natural resource experts, Yejubie preparatory high school know your country club members kebele managers, kebele leaders, church leaders and kebele elders. Non probability sampling is the sample size of the population the respondents are selected by using purposive sampling .the participants of questionnaire respondents are Yejubie high school and preparatory know your country club members, agricultural experts, natural resource experts kebele leaders, and kebele managers. Stratified Sampling was used to use to determine the sample size of questnniare respondents. Data collected by using questionnaire interview and field observation were used to collect data .Both primary and secondary sources of data were used to collect data. The primary data collected from questionnaire and interview respondents. The secondary data collected from magazines broachers and other print materials. Data interpreted and analyzed by using qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis. Data collected from questionnaire analyzed by using table’s percentages frequency and mean using SPSS. Data gathered from interview analyzed. Based on the data obtained from questionnaire and interview, the woreda is endowed both natural and cultural tourism resources such as waterfalls, caves, forests and scenic land features, plant and animal species historical places church and monasteries, intangible cultural heritages like cultural wedding and cultural dancing, cultural performances, in line with the study revealed that infrastructure accessibility and awareness are the major problems for tourism development in the area. The study also identifies the tourism opportunities in the area