An Ethiopian Airlines (ET) official said Friday that the flag carrier has set a target of 100,000 U.S. dollars in monthly revenue from offering city tours to Chinese visitors.
Biniam Demssie, a senior ET media relations officer, said the city tours, focusing on the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, aim to tap into the growing Chinese tourist influx.
Ethiopia recorded 169.6 million U.S. dollars in revenue from 45,307 Chinese tourists who visited the country in 2017, up from 164 million dollars from 43,693 Chinese tourists in 2016, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Demssie said the Addis Ababa city tour for Chinese tourists includes visits to museums, cathedrals, the Entoto mountain ranges and observing Ethiopian coffee ceremonies.
"ET has close to 25 staff members in Ethiopian Holidays Department. They engage in handling tour activities of tourists around the globe including Chinese tourists. The department's activities aim to boost the overall growth of tourism and business activities in Ethiopia," he said.
Ethiopian Airlines now operates daily passenger flights from Addis Ababa to Guangzhou and Beijing, and three-times-a-week passenger flights to Chengdu, as well as daily passenger and cargo flights to Hong Kong and Shanghai.
ET is also planning to start passenger flights to Shenzhen and cargo flights to Zhengzhou.
Aiming to become Chinese travelers' favorite carrier, ET inaugurated the largest Chinese restaurant in Africa in January.
The restaurant, situated in the newly functional Chinese-built Ethiopian Skylight Hotel in close proximity to Bole International Airport, is said to offer additional comfort to Chinese passengers traveling to Ethiopia or on transit.
The newly inaugurated restaurant serves Chinese as well as other nationals with authentic Chinese food prepared by Chinese chefs, Demssie said.
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