Mr. Nega Wedajo, the deputy commissioner of Oromia Tourism Commission (OTC)-Ethiopia, has been named as one of the Africa Travel 100 under 40 award winners by the organisers of Akwaaba Travel Market, West Africa’s largest travel expo and Atqnews.com.
Oromia Tourism Commission is an organization working to promote inbound tourism to Ethiopia’s largest and most geographically diverse region, Oromia. OTC is mandated to support the region’s tourism sector in creating favorable condition for generating tourism export revenues and job opportunities to benefit the economy.
Given tourism’s significant economic potential, OTC exerted much efforts in elevating the regional tourism to the highest level of competence. OTC has succeeded in promoting several destinations and awakening the sector affected by COVID-19 and conflict, by engaging several stakeholders.
After undergoing effective digital intervention over tourism, the commission organized first of its kind event that brought several stakeholders in the digital technology sector. This gave government, non-government and private sectors to gain inputs for policy formulation and better interventions.
Nega has been able to achieve several milestones with the commission. Below are some of his key achievements:
• Organized over a dozen of local exhibitions and expos and policy dialogue platforms that engaged policy makers and key actors;
• Established dozens of functional small and medium sized tourism enterprises and built their capacities;
• Created tourism jobs for 3000 youth across 8 destinations;
• Promoted the region’s tourism via digital platforms that reached millions of audiences,
• Designed public private partnership guidelines that effected boost the region’s tourism investment;
• Put Oromia’s fashion, cuisine, music and lifestyles on Google Arts and Culture platform
• Positioned the region on global tourist map;
• Increased tourist flow to destinations;
Mr. Nega has further ambition yet to realize with OTC and for this he needs additional experiences and exposures to further my skills and knowledge to offer more and overcome challenges in the tourism industry. He also needs to learn the key industry trends that require advanced leadership skills. Hence, He is seeking a chance to have exposures to international platforms like ITB hosted by Germany. The ITB gathers tourists from all walks of life and enables them take part in immersive experiences and obtain information about their next trip. For Nega, participating in such international events gives him the opportunity to gain knowledges and skills on to how promote Oromia’s immense tourism attractions. Most importantly, participating in such events will enable him to get connected to key influencers in the global tourism industry.
