Ethiopia few years ago opened its doors to foreigners by introducing visa on arrival service in the bid to encourage tourism and earn more foreign exchange. The country has gone further to introduce e-visa service and seem to be leading many countries in the continent, which hitherto seemed less conservative.
Ethiopia Airlines said with the introduction of e-visa service back in June 2017, Ethiopia has opened its doors for foreign visitors wider than ever before. Ever since, the e-visa service has redefined visitors’ travel experience, easing entry into the country with digitized service accessible from any part of the world. Taking advantage of e-visa service, more than 200,000 people from 217 countries visited Ethiopia so far. Backed by a dedicated round-the-clock customer support via email, the e-Visa service enables travelers secure e-Visa in less than 6 hours with a short turnaround time at the airport.
“The milestone in the number of travelers who visited Ethiopia through the e-visa service comes as a good news to all of us in the tourism and travel industry,” says Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam, Group CEO Ethiopian Airlines. “The 200,000 milestone is indicative of the fact that the number of visitors who use the digitized service is on the rise. This will bring more benefits to Ethiopia in terms of facilitating travel and promoting tourism, trade and investment to the country.” With the boom in the global Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions (MICE) industry, the e-visa service gives Ethiopia an edge to reap the benefits the industry offers.
The air connectivity Ethiopia enjoys as the hub of Ethiopian Airlines Group coupled with the mushrooming of hotels and lodgings in the country will further elevate Ethiopia as a preferred MICE hub. In the past few years, Ethiopia has taken significant strides towards making travel simple and seamless. Besides the e-visa service, travelers flying Ethiopian also enjoy seamless and end-to-end service using the innovative mobile application of the airline.
