MAN U   V   AC MILAN

In the first of two UEFA Champions League knockout round legs, Manchester United will play AC Milan in at the San Siro on Tuesday 16 February (kick-off 20:45 CET).

Ticket sales for the game will commence from 08:00 GMT on Friday 22 January through to 08:00 GMT on Tuesday 26 January online or by calling 0161 868 8000 to Executive Members, Season Ticket holders and One United Members who are part of the MU European Travel Club.  

Supporters who are not yet part of the MU European Travel Club can still register their details but must have done so before 20:00 GMT on Tuesday 19 January in order to apply for a ticket to the game.

The Club expects to receive an allocation of approximately 4,500 tickets with prices yet to be confirmed.

Ballot results will be made available from Wednesday 27 January.  Supporters successful in the ballot should then ensure they have completed the online travel report by 20:00 GMT on Friday 5 February.  If the travel details are not provided tickets will not be posted out.  The deadline for the cancellation of match tickets is also 20:00 GMT on Friday 5 February.

All tickets will be posted via special delivery from Monday 8 February.

Many problems continue to plague the market and the gap between the official and parallel market dollar rates remains vast. Foreign currency is still as inaccessible as it was before. In contrary to this, foreign currency is available on the underground economy or black market. This is a market where commerce is conducted without regard to taxation, law or regulations of trade.

Tourism business is extremely susceptible to currency and tax abuse. Tourism is one of Ethiopia’s most important industries and a major source of foreign exchange. Considering the potential for tourism specialization based on its history and culture, tourism is conceivably will became the primary source of service export earnings.

Lack of transparent hard currency controls on tourism business and transactions in hard currency is leading to a black market and evasion of tax.

Tour operators are a critical link in the tourism supply chain and for long Haul emerging destinations such as Ethiopia, tour operators are the major driver of business.

 According to the WB (World Bank) report, there are currently 75 tour operators in the market of which about 15-20 handle most of the international business. These local tour operators are asking their counterparts abroad to make the payment to their own foreign country accounts abroad banks, but not in Ethiopia. The funds come from abroad in foreign currency are not through the local Ethiopian banks but conducted via non bank sectors. Sadly, the number of Forex scams by major tour operators is rising.

We have a whole service sector in Ethiopia being robbed of a turnover value of about $600 million a year. This has a direct impact on the National Bank’s currency reserves and its ability to support the birr. In some cases, an economy should attempt to increase confidence in the local currency by supporting it against a hard currency.

Another problem currently facing the tourism sector is that most tourist companies have recently been refusing to accept credit cards, leading to a drop in credit card transactions in the sector by 30 percent since January. If they trade via debt or credit cards the transaction will be through the banks.

Of course, when companies convert their hard currency earnings, banks also have a responsibility to provide these companies with enough foreign currency to finance their operations.

The economic impacts of tourism can be divided into three types: balance of payment effects, income effects and the employment effects. One of the strongest arguments for promoting international tourism as a development strategy to stimulate economic growth is its capacity to earn much needed foreign exchange and thus help with balance of payments.

There are many types of actions that can be undertaken in the interest of Ethiopia’s tourism industry by Ethiopian government institutions such as the Ministry of Tourism & Culture, the National Bank of Ethiopia and the Federal Revenue and Customs Authority.

Since 2004, Ethiopian authorities have been trying to design a law in order to control money laundering. The Parliament has endorsed a bill on Tuesday, July 6, 2009, criminalizing the practice of money-laundering.  A provision in the bill also obliges depositors to disclose the source of their money when depositing or transferring funds, sources disclosed

1.    The government should continue to prove its commitment and willingness to develop tourism through special initiatives and incentives.  The government allowing duty free vehicle for tour operators is a good step but the incentives shouldn’t be abused by other parties. In conjunction with private sector tourism, develop programs to build tourism in Ethiopia, such as properly targeted advertising in source markets throughout the world.

 Investigate the flow of hard and soft currency in the tourism industry.  The first step should be step up efforts to crackdown on abusive business practices by individuals and tour operation companies regarding currency handling. The Tax Office should work closely with the Ministry of Tourism and the Association of Tourism Operators to solve these problems. The National Bank and Ministry of Tourism should work cooperatively with the Tax Office to find a solution which is fair and provide information to identify which tour operators are following the right business practices. 

3.    Emphasize the need for planning and sustainable growth of the tourism industry. 

4.    Tourists’ awareness at the point of entry to Ethiopia.  When visitors are identified by airline or government authorities as being in the country for tourism purposes, hand them a brochure that covers ethical practices for exchanging their hard currency that they and their tour companies should observe. 99% of tourists coming to Ethiopia are serious and intelligent people that will recognize the issues of proper currency handling for the benefit of Ethiopia’s economy. Possibly other useful tips and advice should be included in the brochure as well. 

5.    Licensing of operators with yearly reviews of business records. All tour operators and suppliers of tourist services should be licensed by the Federal government to conduct business in Ethiopia. This is an important step to level the playing field for all operators with regards to currency handling and tax collection. The list of licensed operators should be provided in the brochure mentioned above, to visitors entering the country. 

6.    Local Banks should start accepting credit cards.  Dashen Bank is the only bank accepting Visa and MasterCard credit cards. Tourism transactions conducted through non bank sectors and professions remain viable mechanisms to launder illicit funds. Bank regulation should require the private sector to channel of its transaction through the banking sector.

Source – World Bank (WB)

The fourth century Persian historian Mani described the Ethiopian Kingdom of Axum as being of the four great empires of the world, ranking it alongside China, Persia and Rome. Axumite coins have been found in India and China, and the obelisks of Axum (like the one looted by Mussolini and recently returned by the Italians) are the biggest single pieces of stone erected anywhere in the world.

Nowadays, Ethiopia faces an image problem for tourists – the image of famine, hunger, war and drought. This was not always the case. Ethiopia was one of the first African countries to set up a tourist industry and, in the 1960s, tourist arrivals grew at the rate of 12 per cent a year. By 1974, when the Emperor Haile Selassie was toppled and replaced by a military regime, Ethiopia’s tourist sector was on a par with Kenya’s. Ethiopia then had actually more to offer than Kenya: both had coastlines, spectacular scenery and abundant wildlife, but only Ethiopia also had historic sites and an identity defined by its own history, culture and peoples, rather than by colonialism.

The coming of the Derg, as the military dictatorship came to be known, ushered in a period of civil wars and state sponsored famines. Tourist traffic took a dive. Recovery came with the ousting of the Derg in 1991. Since then, almost year on year, tourist arrivals have shown a steady increase and last year Ethiopia attracted 200,000 visitors – more than double what they were in 1991. We shouldn’t be surprised, after all, Ethiopia is home to no less than seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The Ethiopian tourism sector now constitutes about 2 per cent of GDP, and accounts for 15 per cent of foreign currency earnings, which in 2003 amounted to $77 million. The Ethiopian Tourism Commissioner, Yusuf Abdullahi Sukkar, has predicted that earnings from tourism will outstrip coffee (the country’s current main export earner) within five years.

Despite the upward trend, the sector is still seen as under-performing. The main reason is seen as the lack of attention from Ethiopia’s federal government. On one level the government’s commitment to improving infrastructure, building roads and constructing new regional airports, has facilitated the movement of visitors. However, the absence of a well-defined tourism development strategy, has created a vacuum at the heart of Ethiopia’s tourism sector. Alone among neighbouring and competitor countries, Ethiopia does not have a Minister of Tourism.

In recent years the government has made a number of strategic interventions to solve the problems facing developers and investors in sectors such as coffee, leather, textiles and horticulture, with meetings chaired by the Prime Minister himself. There have been no such developments with the tourism sector. In Ethiopia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper prepared in 2003, the role of tourism was summed up in a few generalities and one paragraph.

However, there are now, signs of change. In August last year, seven tourism related associations presented a paper to the government calling for a public private forum in which the problems facing the sector could be addressed. It stressed the opportunities tourism presented for economic development, job creation and poverty reduction throughout the country.

Although the initial impetus for reform has come from within the country, support, and the crucial promise of funds, is now coming from two sources, the International Think Tank of “Friends of Ethiopia” and the World Bank.

With the prospect of their help, there is a new feeling of confidence among stake holders in the sector, and a belief that Ethiopia’s huge tourist potential is finally about to be realised. Most of the sector, from Ethiopian Airlines, to tour companies and hotels, remains within Ethiopian hands so the massive expatriation of profits that characterise tourism in much of Africa will not be the case here. And the creation of direct and indirect employment throughout the economy that a tourist boom will bring will reduce poverty. Hopefully, the Live Aid image of Ethiopia’s poverty could soon be history.

SOURCE – www.developments.org.uk

The statement said “the Ethiopian tourism sector, which accounts for about 15 per cent of foreign currency earnings, represents the third largest export earner and has significant growth potential.”

Since 2005, the bank said, the government has given increased attention to the sector and aims to put the country among the top 10 African tourist destinations by the year 2020, it said.

This requires important investments in the preservation of cultural assets, the development of infrastructure and tourism facilities, skills enhancement, institutional development and community engagement, it noted.

The proposed project provides much needed assistance to Ethiopia to unleash the unique potential of Ethiopia’s tourism sector through product improvement, market development and capabilities enhancement.

SOURCE – ethioplanet

THE BLUE NILE FALLS

The river Nile, over 800km in length within Ethiopia and the longest river in Africa, holds part of its heart in Ethiopia. From lake Tana  the Blue Nile, known locally as Abbay, flows for 800 km within Ethiopia to meet the white Nile in Khartoum to form the great river that gives life to Egypt and the Sudan. It has been said that the Blue Nile contributes up to 80% of the Nile’s flow. The Blue Nile Falls are about an hour by tour bus from Bahar Dar. Known locally as Tis Isat, the falls are over 400m (1312ft) wide and 45m (148ft) deep. Because of a series of dams near Bahar Dar, they aren’t as impressive as they used to be. Nowhere, is it more spectacular than where it thunders over the Tisisat Falls literally ” Smoking Water” – near Bahar Dar. Here millions of gallons of water cascade over the cliff face and into a gorge, creating spectacular rainbows, in one of the most awe-inspiring displays in Africa.

The Blue Nile falls can easily be reached from Bahir Dar and the Scenic beauty of the Blue Nile Gorge, 225km from Addis Ababa, can be enjoyed as part of an excursion from the capital.

THE SOFOMAR CAVE

Sof Omar, a tiny Muslim village in Bale, is the site of an amazing complex of natural caves, cut  by the Wab River as it found its way from the nearby mountains. The settlement, which is a religious site, is named after a local Sheikh.

Armed with torches and official map, visitors to Sof Omar make their way underground, far into the  bowels of the earth, beside a subterranean stream, and there can see an  extraordinary number of arched portals, high eroded ceilings and deep echoing chambers.

THE RIFT VALLEY

The Ethiopian Rift Valley, which is part of the famous East African Rift Valley, comprises numerous hot springs, beautiful lakes and a variety of wildlife. The valley is the result of two parallel faults in the earth’s surface between which, in distant geological time, the crust was weakened, and the land subsided. Ethiopia is often referred to as the ” water tower” of Eastern Africa because of the many rivers that pour off the high tableland. The Great Rift Valley’s passage through Ethiopia is marked by a chain of seven lakes.

Each of the seven lakes has its own special life and character and provids ideal habitats for the exuberant variety of flora and fauna that make the region a beautiful and exotic destination for tourists.

Most of the lakes are suitable and safe for swimming other water sports. Besides, lakes Abiata and Shalla are ideal places for bird watchers. Most of the Rift Valley lakes are not fully exploited for touristic purposes except lake Langano where tourist class hotels are built. The Rift Valley is also a site of numerous natural hot springs & the chemical contents of the hot springs are highly valued for their therapeutic purposes though at present they are not fully utilized. In short, the Rift Valley is endowed with many beautiful lakes , numerous hot springs, warm and pleasant climate and a variety of wildlife. It is considered as one of the most ideal areas for the development of international tourism in Ethiopia.

LUCY

Lucy, 3.5 million years old, and the recent discovery Ramides, 4.4 million years old hominid fossil, are discovered in Haddar, along the Awash River, east of the country. They completed the missing link between Apes and men.

Melka Konture is also an important archeological site where 1.5 million years old stone tools were found. Several cave paintings and stone monuments are found in different parts of the country like Dilla, southern Ethiopia and Dire Dawa, eastern Ethiopia.

HOMINIDS

Fragments of a frontal bone and of a femur were recovered in the Pliocene Formations of Maka. In the Middle Pliocene Formation of Bodo d’Ar, dated to 300,000 – 150,000 years, a frontal and other remains of a human skull were discovered in 1976. This fossil probably belongs to an archaic Homo Sapiens.

HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS

The fossil skulls known as Omo I and II come from the kibish formation (200,000/100,000 years ago) in the Omo Valley. Not withstanding the presence of some archaic features, such as the thickness of the cranial walls, the appearance of modern anatomical features, the elevated frontal and the presence on the mandible of Omo I of a real bony chin, allow them to be considered, without doubt, close to Homo Sapiens Sapiens.
Up on request, Grand Holidays Ethiopia can arrange a tour program to discover these archeological sites if necessary with a combination of other attractions.

The church was destroyed and rebuilt number of times. And the current structure is built by King Fasiledes of Gondar in the 17th century. But the new church of St.Mary of the Zion near the old one in which the Arc of the Covenant is housed was built by Emperor Hailesilase.

Once Axum has been the seat of Kingdom of Axum but presently it’s a town of tourist destination. If you are planning to visit this gorgeous spot, you are bound to see archaeological remains, graves of kings, foundations of a palace, inscribed tablets, great carved obelisks. These all reflect the past civilization Axum had.

LALIBELA Lalibela was originally a monastic settlement. Latter it became the permanent capital of the Ethiopian central government next to Axum in the 12th century during the period of Zagwe dynasty. Today Lalibela is the leading tourist site in Ethiopia. It is usually identified with h eleven rock-hewn churches. Those are amongst the eight Ethiopian sites registered in the World Heritage List by UNESCO. Unofficially it is considered as the eight wonders of the world. The incredible architectural design and the marvelous paintings always leave visitors speechless.

GONDAR Gondar was founded by King Fasiledes in 1632 and served as the capital of the country for nearly 200 years .It was the third permanent capital city in Ethiopia next to Axum and Lalibela respectively. It is found 50 kilometers north of Lake Tana and 700 kilometers north of Addis Abebba. Gondar nestles in the foothills of the Semien mountains at an altitude of 2200 meters above sea level. The Gonderine period is very popular mainly in the building of castles and churches. The castle building tradition was first established by Emperor Fasiledes and then followed by his successors. Fasiledes built the huge and graceful castle. For a long time, since its establishment, Gondar served as an important administrative, commercial, religious and cultural center in Ethiopia. And today the presence of many outstanding royal castles, breath taking churches and other age long heritages makes Gondar to be one of the significant tourist destinations in Ethiopia.

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Nature has also endowed Ethiopia with splendid beauty and diversity that is worth being given the utmost admiration and highest regard.

Do you know that Ethiopia is the cradle of mankind?
It is here that the 3.8 million years old remains of ancestral Australopithecus Afarensis (the first hominid skeleton) and the 4.4 million years old fossil remains of the chimpanzee-sized ape were unearthed.

Historical and archaeological discoveries show that only few countries in the world possess such great wealth, ancient legends, and beautiful attractions as Ethiopia.

It is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa with tangible historical remnants stretching back to the ancient Mediterranean civilizations.

Ethiopia retains its own particular language and script, its own food and drink, its own church and saints, even its own calendar and clock.

Ethiopia has been known since the biblical Genesis (The Beginning):
Do you know that it is the first country to be mentioned in the world’s oldest book, The Bible? Read “Gen 2:13”

Ethiopia is “friendly and hospitable”
Friendly, amazingly safe, proud of themselves and having great respect for others, are among the many attributes of Ethiopian people. Its grand attractions and its people will leave you with unforgettable memories and lasting impressions.

Ethiopia is an affordable destination
Addis Ababa and other destinations have hotels that cater for all pockets.

From the luxurious Sheraton and Hilton hotels, to the tourist class hotels such as the Ghion Hotel, Imperial Hotel, Global Hotel, Hotel Leopold and many others, that all have good customer service.

Guest houses, restaurants, cafes, supermarkets are plentiful and cheap. You will always get the best rooms, facilities and services that are both affordable and reasonably priced.