Research Article

Veterinary

Participation of Local People in Community Based Ecotourism (CBET) Development Project in Ethiopia, a Case of Eastern Zone of Tigray

Ethiopia, especially Tigray region is the origin of plenty of tourism resources like Rock Hewon churches, Axum obelisk, endemic animals and different cultural heritages, then the sector is growing fast even the tourism policy highlights for active participation of local people in tourism. Yet, CBET project is the best formal mechanism for community participation from the tourism sector. Hence the objective of this study was to assess the participation of local people in CBET development in Ethiopia, in case of eastern zone of Tigray region. Cross sectional design was applied to conduct a study at the point of time and descriptive method was used to describe the nature of the problem. Total of 163 samples was participated from the target population using judgmental from non-members of CBET communities and convenient from members of CBET and tour guides. The finding showed that, there is low participation of communities especially females in the sector, High illiteracy, less knowledge of communities in the sector than the tour guides and members of CBET. Only few peoples were engaged in the CBET project. Generally the community’s involvement in the sector was found low. Then the recommendation is that, communities especially female participation in the sector should be encouraged, income from the sector should be expanded by training local community in different income generating activities. Generally Assuring integration of the national, regional, local and public-private efforts towards ecotourism development is a best action to develop the sector