Traditional restaurants in Addis Abeba, known for serving authentic domestic dishes and offering vibrant cultural performances, face severe constraints, despite an uptick in tourist arrivals officially touted. The struggle for survival among these eateries signals a wider concern within the tourism industry, uncovering gaps between reported visitor statistics and actual business performance.

YOD Abyssinia Traditional Restaurant, established in 2003 on Cameroon Street next to the landmark previously known as Brass Hospital, Bole vicinity, has long been celebrated for combining cuisine with captivating live cultural entertainment. However, in recent years, the restaurant has experienced a downturn in patronage.

Daniel Fikadu, food and beverage manager, detailed the sharp drop. Daily visitors fell from around 1,000 in 2022 to 500 in 2023 and dwindled to 250–300 by 2024. Most of its customers are through reservations from government entities or businesses. This decline compelled the establishment to reduce operational hours. Staff now work a single shift, with the restaurant closing earlier in the evening rather than at midnight.

Its sister company, YOD Abyssinia Tour & Travel (YATT), established in 2010 as part of the restaurant’s expansion, initially thrived by offering inbound and outbound tourism services, including city tours centred around culture and gastronomy. However, shifting market demands prompted a pivot. According to Sosina Gebremariam, manager at YATT, the agency now primarily arranges outbound travel services, focusing largely on Ethiopian tourists heading abroad, notably to Jerusalem.

Pagumen Tour & Travel, another Addis Abeba-based agency founded in 2016 near Axum Hotel, echoed these difficulties.

Eyob Abate, the head of its tourism department, noted a substantial decline in inbound tourism. Pagumen once hosted approximately 20 groups annually, each comprising 20 tourists staying an average of eight days. This operation generated substantial foreign currency and benefited local traditional restaurants, which were included in tour packages. However, the reduction in tourist groups forced the company to diversify into outbound tours, event planning, ticketing, and car rental services to sustain its operations.

Tourism experienced rapid growth between 2010 and 2018, with tourist arrivals nearly doubling from 438,000 in 2010. Experts attribute enhanced air connectivity and targeted international marketing strategies to boosting foreign currency earnings, reaching about 3.6 billion dollars in 2018, representing over 45pc of the country’s export revenues. Tourism emerged as an important employment driver, providing roughly 1.9 million jobs by 2019 and contributing over six percent to the GDP.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted this momentum. Even after a peace accord in 2022 briefly revitalised the sector, tourism revenues dipped by more than six percent in 2023 compared to the preceding year, according to the UN World Tourism Barometer. While official tourism figures appear optimistic, Ethiopia received 928,304 tourists in 2024. In the third quarter of the current fiscal year, 743,264 visitors were reported to have arrived. Officials claim the revenue generated from tourism activities amounted to approximately 100.3 billion Br.

Despite these encouraging positive numbers, a closer look reveals complexities. According to Samson Ayinachew, director of Tourism Destination & Domestic Tourism Development, not all recorded arrivals represent leisure tourism; many are business travellers attending conferences or events. No less than 84 conferences were hosted in Addis Abeba during this period.

Accurate data collection remains a persistent problem. The authorities consider a tourist as anyone spending at least one night in the country without residing for more than a year, excluding business travellers and same-day visitors like airline crew. Each entry is counted separately, potentially inflating numbers due to multiple visits by the same individuals within a given year. By comparison, countries like Kenya track comprehensive tourist data through entry points, capturing nationality and preferred destinations, thereby providing more precise insights.