Investigating the Potential of Ancient Religious Sites in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewhido Church for Religious Tourism Development: The Case of Kirstos Semra

Abstract

Though Ethiopia is endowed with a variety of religious tourism, its potential hasn’t been outlined, managed and used for the development of tourism. Kirstos Semra and its surroundings is one of the most outstanding sites and this study has a general objective of assessing the potential of the site and its surroundings for religious tourism. Descriptive design is employed as a methodology; to collect data, both primary and secondary sources are employed. Respondents were selected through convenience and purposively sampling methods, and in addition, content analysis was undertaken. Findings proved that religious festivals, ancient religious treasures and ancient monasteries are only some of the religious potential of the religious sites. To enhance religious tourism and sustainably develop general cultural tourism, all tourism stakeholders should strive to work together effectively.

Keywords

• monastery
• potential
• Kirstos Semra
• religious tourists