Abstract:
Developing domestic and international tourism together carries importance for maintaining a
strong tourism industry. Countries that develop the domestic tourism are able to increase foreign
tourist arrivals and incoming tourism revenues more easily than the countries those do not have
a strong domestic tourism industry. To develop domestic tourism, both public and private sectors
share responsibilities. Incentive travels are considered as a vital tool for developing domestic
tourism. The study was conducted the case of tour operating companies in Addis Ababa. The
purpose of the study was to assess the role of incentive travel for domestic tourism development.
In conducting the research, a qualitative research approach was employed in line with
descriptive and exploration types of research design; the data was collected through interviews
and document analysis. The participants of the study were tour operating companies, ministry of
culture and tourism and tourism Ethiopia corporate from these informants 17 were selected by
using purposive and convenience sampling based on data saturation principle. The data was
thematically analyzed and narrated in a meaningful way. Therefore the result of study indicates
the incentive travel is getting attention but not much enough. The role of incentive travel for
domestic tourism is minimize inflation rate, decrease economic leakage, fill seasonal gaps
;create travel motivation, minimize loss of cultural authenticity; minimize terrorism and crime
generation are economic, socio cultural and political roles respectively. The major challenges
are also budget, time, family obligation destination preference and low attention of the
government about domestic tourism. The existence of potential tour operator companies, tourism
resources and technological advancements are the major opportunities. Finally the researcher
recommends that, the concerned stakeholder should contribute for incentive travel program and
finally future research implications are indicated by the researcher.
