Presentation done by Rayviscic Mutinda Ndivo, during "religious tourism destinations" workshop, of the ENTER2015 eTourism conference.

1. ENTER 2015 Destination Track Slide Number 1
Religious World Heritage Sites as
Anchor Attractions for Developing
Sustainable Tourism Value Chains: The
case of the Rock Hewn Churches of
Labella, Ethiopia.
NDIVO, Rayviscic Mutinda
UNECA- Ethiopia;
Kenyatta University, Kenya
mutinda.ray@ku.ac.ke
www.uneca.org/sro-ea/ http://www.ku.ac.ke

2. ENTER 2015 Destination Track Slide Number 2
Presentation outline
• Introduction
• Concept of TVC
• About the Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela
• Why TVC in Lalibela
• TVCs in Lalibela
• Levels of TVC Participation and
Interventions

3. ENTER 2015 Destination Track Slide Number 3
Introduction
World Heritage Sites are increasingly becoming a focus
for economic development within the host countries:
–National governments have supported cultural heritage as development projects for
poverty alleviation and re-construction in post-conflict societies
–Establishment of national trust funds to promote culture as a tool for development
by donor and lending agencies
–Heritage as a cultural resource for achieving socio-economic development has
featured prominently in the agendas of such international development agencies as
the World Bank and a number of UN agencies eg:
• UNESCO’s World Heritage Fund and African World Heritage Fund;
• International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of
Cultural Property (ICCROM)

4. ENTER 2015 Destination Track Slide Number 4
• The tourism sector has been at the forefront in actualizing
this economic development goal of heritage management
noting that the natural and cultural heritage, diversities
and living cultures, are major tourist attractions.
• Significantly, cultural tourists have demonstrated a high
affinity for cultural understanding and appreciation,
making the segment a higher consumer of local culture.

5. ENTER 2015 Destination Track Slide Number 5
Concept of TVC
• Generally, a value chain represents the full range of activities required to
bring a product or service from conception, through the different phases
of production and delivery, to the final consumer.
• AIM?. Exploring potential leverage points that will help in developing a
systemic competitive value chain that enables inclusive and sustainable
economic growth.
• The value chain approach is a preferred model for poverty reduction and
sustainable livelihoods adopted by a number of development agencies and
government organisations e.g.
– the International Fund for Agriculture and Development (IFAD),
– German Technical Cooperation (GTZ),
– the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV)

6. ENTER 2015 Destination Track Slide Number 6
Tourism value chains
represents the general steps
and suppliers a visitor
interacts with from
commencement of a trip to
the end of the visit including
suppliers like travel
intermediaries,
accommodations,
restaurants, attractions and
other services
Tourism value chain analysis
therefore enables the
identification of the short,
medium and long-term
potential interventions that
could increase the economic
benefits of the target groups, or
even contribute to the general
competitive development of
the tourism destination itself
(Gollub, et al, 2003)

7. ENTER 2015 Destination Track Slide Number 7
The Rock-Hewn Churches of
Lalibela- the 'New Jerusalem'
• A living heritage and one of the first twelve WHSs to be inscribed by
UNESCO on the World Heritage List in 1978
• Legend has it that King Lalibela build the churches in an attempt to build a
new Jerusalem as his capital in response to the capture of old Jerusalem by
Muslims in 1187 that made it impossible for pilgrimage.
• Legend says that angels helped their construction at night and St. George
supervised the work. His horse left hoofprints on the passage leading to the
last church, named after him — Beta Gyorgis,
• King Lalibela himself is said to have been buried in one of the churches, Beta
Mikael church
• The churches have roofs at ground level and plunge down 40 feet.

8. ENTER 2015 Destination Track Slide Number 8
The Northern Group (5):
1.Biete Medhane Alem (House of the Saviour
of the World), home to the Lalibela Cross
and believed to be the largest monolithic
church in the world
2.Biete Maryam (House of Miriam/House of
Mary)
3.Biete Golgotha Mikael (House of Golgotha
Mikael), -said to contain the tomb of King
Lalibela)
4.Biete Maskal (House of the Cross)
5.Biete Denagel (House of Virgins)
The Western Group (1):
Biete Giyorgis (Church of Saint George),
The Eastern Group (5):
1.Biete Amanuel (House of Emmanuel)
2.Biete Qeddus Mercoreus (House of St.
Mercoreos/House of St. Mark)
3.Biete Abba Libanos (House of Abbot
Libanos)
4.Biete Gabriel-Rufael (House of the angels
Gabriel, and Raphael)
5.Biete Lehem (Bethlehem Hebrew, House
of Holy Bread
The distribution of the 11 Churches along
“River Jordan”

9. ENTER 2015 Destination Track Slide Number 9
The eleven churches
are still places of
worship and
pilgrimage for
believers of the
Ethiopian Orthodox
Church where
important religious
festivals including
the Ethiopian
Christmas (Genna)
and the Epiphany
(timkat)

10. ENTER 2015 Destination Track Slide Number 10
Why TVC in Lalibela?
• Lalibela is a small town of approximately 8,400 inhabitants and located on the
hills of Amharaland in a remote part of Wollo, one of the poorest regions of
Ethiopia.
• Tourism is a key sector that provides a livelihood to her population both
– directly as workers in hotels, restaurants, transport companies and as guides
– and indirectly as craft workers, farmers, hotel construction workers or
priests (numbering about 700 and who receive income from church
entrance fees).

11. ENTER 2015 Destination Track Slide Number 11
Lalibela
facts and figures!
1. 9 hotels and 13 guest houses in the
town. Though owned and managed
by Ethiopian nationals, it is doubtful
that a majority of these are owned
by investors from the locality owing
to the poverty levels; concerns on
the poor standard of service
2. By 2009, the town had around 53
souvenir shops but as high as 90%
of the items procured from Addis
Ababa (Mitchell and Coles, 2009).
3. No local supplies of hotel food
requirements and hence food is
imported from elsewhere in
Ethiopia.
4. Very few taxi and car rental
companies, and quite limited city
tours.
5. The locals mainly employed as
junior staff as majority lack
managerial and language skills
(mainly Amharic spoken) = poor
pay
6. However the town has a very high
proportion of local excursions
conducted by local tour guides
under the Lalibela Tour Guide
Association

12. ENTER 2015 Destination Track Slide Number 12
KEY Question:
How to diversify the
economic benefits
arising from the WHS
into the local
community
• THEREFORE, the tourism-
related benefits to the local
community arising from the
WHS have mainly been
through
1. infrastructural developments
and
2. jobs creation, with little to
show on enterprises
development,
• But, even the tourism
employees earn significantly
low salaries (Mitchell and
Coles, 2009)

13. ENTER 2015 Destination Track Slide Number 13
Tourism value chain
interventions mainly
focus on two areas:
1.increasing the
earnings the current
local participants, and
2.assisting new
entrants to enter the
value chain
Sustainable TVC approach will
require mainstreaming local
enterprises into a business
approach across the industry,
rather than a pure pro-poor
tourism development approach
that has been noted as
contributing little to poverty
alleviation unless it is
mainstreamed (Roe, 2006)

14. ENTER 2015 Destination Track Slide Number 14Framework for TVC analysis for the Rock-Hewn churches of Lalibela (Adapted from UNWTO, 2013).

15. ENTER 2015 Destination Track Slide Number 15
Levels of TVC Participation and
Interventions
LEVEL DRAWBACKS INTERVENTIONS
DIRECT EMPLOYMENT • Managerial and technical
skills competencies
• Language skills
Capacity building
OWNERSHIP
OF FRONT-
LINE FIRMS
• Poverty (lack of capital)
• Low entrepreneurial and
enterprise development
skills
• Market-place realities
(Competition)
• Upgrading Strategies
a) Horizontal coordination
b) Functional upgrading
c) Process upgrading
d) Product upgrading
e) Market upgrading
f) Inter-chain upgrading
• SMTEs development support
INDIRECT SUPPLIERS TO
FRONT-LINE
FIRMS
1. Lack of capital capacity
2. Lack of Quality capacity
3. Unsupportive
mainstream firms
4. Market-place realities
(Competition)
• Upgrading Strategies
a) All above plus
b) Vertical coordination
• SMTEs development support
• Pro-poor initiatives (affirmative
action)