Identifying and Mapping of Halal Tourism Resources and Routes in Ethiopia

Abstract

This paper discussed the availability and viability of halal sites and routes in Ethiopia. Tourism development requires detailed information about potential tourism resources. Accordingly, inventorying the existing actual and potential tourism resources should be the first step to assess the tourism potential of a certain destination. The main aims of this paper are twofold: to identify and discuss cultural and natural visitor attractions that will entice halal conscious visitors; and to propose halal tourism routes based on these resources. The proposed halal tourism routes lie down from the center, Addis Ababa towards different parts of Ethiopia. The study employed qualitative methodologies namely interviews, focus group discussion and field observations. GIS technology was also widely used to identify, locate visitor attractions and plot the spatial interconnection between these attractions. The findings of the study confirm that Ethiopia has abundant potential tourism resources to develop halal tourism. These resources mainly consist of Islamic heritage and natural resources. After the identification of the available tourism resources, five potential halal tourism routes were proposed.