COVID-19

After successfully overcoming 2 crises like Covid-19 and the conflict in the Northern part of the country, we organized again the annual training for our internal staff and freelance tourism professionals. We found it important to bring together all these professionals after such long time - to reconnect, spend some valuable time together, improve our knowledge and fill the small gaps that this long time with few job opportunities inevitably created.

Yes, we Ethiopians and Ethiopia-lovers are all victims of the Tigray conflict, it really affected the whole country and its people which all lost unconditionally. There is no beauty from war. The unconditional love, hospitality, and kindness of the Tigray people, the beautiful landscapes, the breath-taking views from every mountain, the spiritually rich churches and monasteries – it all planted roots deep in our hearts. Our absence from this region is just about three years, but it has a feeling of three centuries and more. What now matters most is the empowerment, courage and mental strength to reopen and restart – for us and more than all for the people in Tigray.

There are good news for travelers who would like to visit Ethiopia. Beside the occasional technical problems with the issuance of E-Visas faced in the past (which have been solved and E-Visas are issued regularly now), the entry restrictions regarding Covid-19 have been reviewed by the Ethiopian Government and for fully vaccinated travelers no negative PCR test is required anymore.

After more than half a year since the outbreak of the pandemic, Ethiopia re-opened for tourism again and we do know that safety will be one of the major concerns of travelers but also for our employees. To support the country's safe travel efforts at attraction sites, in hotels and restaurants tour operators are at the forefront to promote safe travel and train employees accordingly. A first COVID-19 Safe Travel Training has been conducted in our Addis Ababa office on October 16, 2020.

Ethiopia is re-opening its doors again to receive first guests after all necessary precautions have been put in place to make sure tourists can travel safely. However, borders have never been fully closed and internal travel restrictions where comparatively sound which was a great chance for the SimienEcoTours team to travel ourselves over the last couple of months and discover new destinations, get a personal feeling how it’s like to travel in Ethiopia during the pandemic and prepare great once in a lifetime opportunities for people willing to travel soon.