Ethiopian Sustainable Tourism Alliance

The Ethiopian Sustainable Tourism Alliance (ESTA) aims to enhance biodiversity conservation and economic development through sustainable tourism products, services and other opportunities throughout destination regions of Ethiopia.

The ESTA program will play a role in creating opportunities for communities to benefit from conservation-based activities through improved livelihoods, natural resource management and social infrastructure. 

In order to do so, the ESTA will implement innovative interventions across community mobilization, natural resource management, private sector competitiveness, workforce development, stakeholder networking and communications while utilizing methodologies developed by industry leaders such as Counterpart International (Counterpart), Academy for Educational Development (AED), Aid to Artisans and The George Washington University.

As a secondary focus, ESTA program

integrates HIV/AIDS Prevention and Awareness activities to strengthen the tourism value chain by preventing new infections and increasing the mitigation of the epidemic's impact in the target areas.

The interventions will target three groups in the destination clusters, namely tourism industry workforce (tour operators, guides, drivers, hotels, park staff, etc.); communities in/around tourism destinations; and tourists (foreign and domestic). The key HIV prevention and awareness raising strategies are HIV/AIDS prevention training and community outreach, HIV/AIDS Workplace Policies, mobile counseling and testing for HIV, condom distribution and Information Education Communication (IEC) material distribution.

Photos: © Christine Hicks/Counterpart International.