Competitiveness as an Indicator of Sustainable Development of Tourism: Applying Destination Competitiveness Indicators to Ethiopia

Abstract: Competitiveness can be applied to predict the economic sustainability of tourism in destinations which has been measured in terms of leakages and linkage related to employment and income generation opportunities to the destinations. This article examines destination competitiveness of Ethiopia based on the analyses of administrative records, academic journals, face-to-face discussion with the key industry players and email communication. The main objective of this study is to assess sustainability of economic benefits of tourism for Ethiopia by applying destination competitiveness indicators. The result shows that potential destination competitiveness is significant for the growth of tourism and its economy especially to employment and income generation in Ethiopia. As the competitiveness of Ethiopia is being improved, it will result in the increase of tourist arrivals that will sustain economic benefits of tourism.