Travel agents visit Ethiopia

Representatives of seven travel and tour agencies and two media houses from Ghana are in Ethiopia on a five-day familiarisation tour of the operations and facilities of Ethiopian Airlines.

The tour is to help enhance the working relationship between the airline and the agencies, while providing an insight into how the airlines’ operations could advance the interest of the Ghanaian travelling public.

A Senior Sales Representative at Ethiopian Airlines in Ghana, Mr Thomas Acquah said in an interview that the trip would also help give the agencies first-hand experience of tourism and tourist attractions in Ethiopia and enable them to apply the experiences gathered to their work back in Ghana.

“These agencies do business with us and we are almost like partners. The tour is to help enhance that partnership,” he told the Daily Graphic in Addis Ababa.

The beneficiary agencies include Universal Travel and Tours, Kesben Travel and Tours, Poza Travel and Tours and Satguru Travels.

The rest are Aldeeam Travel and Tours, Doscar Travel and Tours and Travel Matters.

 All the seven agencies sell air tickets for Ethiopian Airlines.

The tour, which started on May 28, is expected to end on June 1 with a return flight to Ghana.

The participants will also meet some top executives of Ethiopian Airlines and visit some historical 14th century churches across Ethiopia, such as the Church of Ura Kidane Mihret. 

They will also visit the Blue Nile and Lake Tana.

Mr Acquah said the airline was of the conviction that the agencies and the media would learn about the rich tourism potential of Ethiopia and the airlines’ operations and share the information with their clients and the Ghanaian public.

The representatives of the various travel and tour agencies were given a cake on board the flight to Ethiopia as a sign of appreciation for the cordial relationship that had existed between their agencies and the airline over the years.

The airline and the agencies pledged their commitment to deepen their relationship in the coming years.

Story & Picture: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare