Wagnew Eshetie

Community Based Eco-tourism Development in the Np's of Ethiopia: Potentials, Challenges and Opportunities: the Case of Borena Saynt National Park Wagnew Eshetie

Ecotourism has emerged as one of the fastest-growing sectors of the tourism market and protected areas are the foundation of it. Despite this trend, CBET is still at its toddler stage in the Ethiopian national parks. This study focuses on the assessment of potentials, challenges and opportunities of BSNP for CBET development. The results revealed that the park is an ideal place to successfully develop CBET. But the findings of the study also have portrayed that constraints such as poor infrastructural developments, lack of natural buffer zone, environmental degradation, exaggerated shape and size, population growth, settlement, human wild life conflict; and lack of shopping and commercial facilities are persistent challenges. However, worldwide tourism demand with security and political stability, special attention of NGOs, government policy which gives considerable attention to tourism and infrastructural development are opportunities to be utilized. The main conclusions drawn from this research were that the park is an open air museum for biodiversity and geological features.