Destination Ethiopia: Heritage sites for tourism development

elephant is a dangerous agricultural pest, the lion a savage killer of men and stock, and the wildebeest an unwelcome competitor for scarce grazing. Residents in Africa expect protection from damage by game and they expect to see that where human interests and those of animals conflict, the interests of animals are allowed to prevail only in carefully chosen and restricted areas. But if the mass of my countrymen are to be enlisted in the ranks of conservationists, they will need to be convinced not only that the animals in these restricted areas, that is the Parks and Reserves, can be more use to them alive than dead, but that the money necessary to preserve them would not be better spent on more schools and doc-tors. In other words, they will expect us to see that what they are told is “ their heritage ” , however valuable it may be as a cultural asset, can still be made to earn its keep. Can this be done? I believe it can — through tourism. ⁷⁵ How can money be raised for the restoration of protection of the world ’ s heritage of monuments? A new Unesco [sic] plan offers an answer — turn the monuments into paying affairs. Unesco [ … ] suggests, that countries should turn their cultural assets into economic ones by giving priority to monuments in programmes of tourist development. [ … ] Unesco is study-ing how funds for such projects can be obtained from regional and international organisations and through the U.N. Development Programme, since the tourist industry is seen as a key factor in economic development. ⁹⁰ our an increasing proportion of this population of could be in-duced to make eastern Africa their goal.¹

shops, "King Solomon'sMines",theysold "tourist art" handicraftarticles in addition to regular duty-free items such as liquor and tobacco. Thesearticles resembled traditionalc ulturali tems and weres pecificallyd esigned and produced in workshops operatedb yt he ETO. This created additional income, enablingt he ETOt oexpand and operate tours and car-hires. The ETOa nd EAL alsooperated an umber of tourist-hotels,m eaning hotels suitable to host international travellers and tourists.M ost importantly, the ETOd eveloped am arketing strategya s well as extensive tourism promotion material.⁵⁷ Tourism was stated in the third five-year development plan of 1968 as the key to betteringthe country'seconomic well-being.With neighbouringcountries such as Kenyah eld up as positive examples, "it was envisaged thatm uch more attention willbegiven to the possibilitiesoftourism as apotential sourceofforeign currencythan has been possibleinthe past."⁵⁸ Amoreintegrated, inter-sectoral approach turned tourism in ag overnment responsibility and the new,c oordinated development plan for tourism defined very clearlyt he central role of the government in the tourist industry.
Adecade of more extensive tourism planningfollowed these assessments. In the 1969agrand Ethiopian Tourist DevelopmentPlan was commissioned from an Italian planningfirm. The high expectations for tourism weredetailed out in this plan. In just eight years the investment planned for tourism was believed to have returned equivalent benefitsinfull, in addition turning acapital investment of 92 millionE thiopian dollars into at otali ncome of 450m illion Ethiopian dollars within thirteen years, with indirect benefits believed to be four times as high.⁵⁹ To reach these goals, great investment in tourism was needed. "The lack of necessary infrastructure, the lack of special air fares making it possiblet oi nclude Ethiopia in East African and all-African tours,the lack of travel promotion in overseas markets"⁶⁰ all presented difficulties that had to be overcome. The Ethiopiang overnment reached out for international assistance for tourism planning.T he International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) conducted an independent assessment and stated that "tourism would be the second most important sourceo ff oreign trade for Ethiopia (following the export of coffee)".The Bank was convincedo ft ourism as ac rucial factor for economic development,asitseemed capable of considerable expansion.⁶¹ Subsequently,a World Bank loan for the development of tourism-including the preservation of sites and monuments-was approved.⁶² At least in the funding proposals and consultants' reports, tourism was playedu pa sacure-all of Ethiopia'sd evelopment problems. Not onlyw ould it earn the revenue necessary for further economic development,itwould also initiate keyi nfrastructure projects such as transportation and electricity thath ad failed to be realised in their own right.

UN-sponsored tourism planning ford eveloping countries in the 1960s
The roots for tourism as it became an item on the agenda of international development programmes go back to the European, and moreparticularlyBritish, tradition of the nobility touring other countries as part of their education, also known as the Grand Tour. The transformation of work-life-organisation that took place with the industrialisation in European societies brought an ew availability of leisure time, which was often combined with ad esire to travel for recreational purposes. The introduction and elaboration of paidh olidays since the 1920sm ade wayf or the concept of leisuret ime thatc ould be spent travelling elsewhere. This became feasible for as ignificantlyl arge number of workers, a contrast to previous timesw heret ravelling for recuperation and education had remained aprivilegeofthe upperand middle classes. The ever-growingnumber of salaried workers thatwereentitled to paid holidays contributed to the growing volume of travel that had begun to be classified as touristic. The stabilised political situation and the rapid economic growth after the end of the Second World Wari nW estern Europe, Australasia and North America and the large-scale economic,s ocial and technologicalc hanges occurringa longside resulted in at remendous rising of tourist numbers and ab ooming tourism sector.T he extent of available investment easedt he expansion of necessary infrastructure and the increase in disposable income caused as ignificant yearlygrowth of the sector.Finally, the technological innovations of motorisation, the expansion of railwayand road infrastructure and the introduction of air travel made mass transportation easier,l ess time-consuminga nd affordable.⁶³ In the contemporary understanding of the 1960s, tourism wasd istinguisheda sadecidedlym odern, European phenomenon, not least because onlyacertain percentageo ft he world'sp opulation was able to engagei ns uch travel. In tourism development planning,n on-Western and pre-modern forms of travel, such as pilgrimage, weren ot included.⁶⁴ Fort ourism planners, the world was clearlyd ivided into those who travel and those who are travelled to, the Western and Non-Western countries,and domestic tourism was something thatdid not exist in developing countries.⁶⁵ The growth of tourism eventuallyturned it into apowerful factor in economic development,q uicklya cquiringi mportance in manyn ational economies, increasingthe business of tour operators and all branches of the hospitality industry,bet hey accommodation, food or entertainment.I nternational organisations and networks were formed, the most important of these being the International Union of Travel Organisations (IUOTO), established in 1946.I UOTO concerned themselveswith issues relatingtotravelconditions,especiallyvisa and passport regulations, but also joint regional advertising and the definition of standards.To strengthen its policymaking capacities and following am ajorityv ote backed largely by developing countries,i n1 974I UOTO was transformed into the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and elevated to the ranks of aUNspecial agency,e xcludingt he privates ector members.⁶⁶ The UNWTO, in undertaking more targeted attempts to centralisetourism policies internationally, brought forward important global tourism policies like the 1980 Manila declaration and the 1982 AcapulcoD ocument.⁶⁷ Most noteworthya bout the work of these international organisations is the fact thatthe recommendations and policiesexplicitlystated tourism to be acritical factor for challengingglobal inequality.Inthe official resolutions and statements, tourism was explained as am echanism to redistribute the resources of rich societies to poor ones, contributing to the restructuring of the international economic system towards the New International Economic Order.A mong econ- Dennison Nash, "Tourism as aF orm of Imperialism",inHosts and Guests: TheAnthropology of Tourism,ed. Valene L. Smith, 2nd ed.  18111/unwtodeclarations.1980.6.4.1;United Nations World Tourism Organization, "Acapulco Document",A ugust 1982, http://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/un wtodeclarations.1982.1.
Destination Ethiopia: Heritage sites fort ourism development omistsa nd other international development experts, tourism held ap articular value for developing countries to materialise economic potential and surpass their "under-development".⁶⁸ The biggest advantage of tourism, in their opinion, was that it wasanon-threatening export industry,o ffering ap roduct that was not in anyc ompetition with the domestic industries of the Global North.
Mass-tourism on ag lobal scale was, despite the exploding numbers of tourist arrivals duringt he 1960s, largely confined to the Western hemisphere. The vast majority of arrivals wereregistered in Europe and Northern America,meaning it was Europeans traveling inside of Europe or American or Canadiancitizens traveling inside Northern America.Asmaller number of tourists from these Western countries travelled to non-Western countries,g enerallyn eighbouringo nes. Tourism business did not yetexist in most developing countries,yet,this favourable development wasr eadilyp rojected onto regions rich in potential destinations all over the world, such as South East Asia, Latin America and East Africa by planners and politicians. The increase in global revenue from foreign tourism by 75 %b etween 1958 and 1963s eemed to justify the build-up of tourism as the universal remedyf or countries lacking ad eveloped industrial sector or natural resourcesr eadyt oe xploit.⁶⁹ Manyp lanners, entrepreneursa nd politicians predicted rising numbers of tourists to developing countries,r esulting in as teady growth of tourism, ag rowth thatw ould divert cashf lows from the prosperous countries of said tourists straight into the national economies of their destinations.⁷⁰

Surveying Ethiopia'sn atural and culturalh eritage
With economic development becomingt he ultima ratio for all sizeable amounts of fundingwithin the UN system, tourism was awelcome opportunity to connect ac hronicallyu nder-financed activity,t he conservation of cultural and natural sites,t oe xisting cashflows.⁷¹ It was ag enerallya ccepted fact that there wasa lack of funds for conservation in developing countries,a nd thatt ourism could serveasapotential sourcefor these funds. Some expertswent even further,stat-ing that the conservation of monuments and wildlife presented the onlym ajor potential for tourism in most developing countries,a sp eople would not travel so far simplyt os pend leisure time at ab each. Cultural and natural heritage, in most developing countries,was considered an attraction at the coreo fad estination.
International nature conservation experts agreed that African fauna, flora and habitat was the most urgent conservation problem of the time.⁷² In 1960,Julian Huxley,f ormerD irector General of UNESCO,A frican wildlife biologist and prominent spokesperson for eugenics and geo-engineering,embarked on am ission for UNESCO, "to investigatet he problem" of conservation and wildlife in East and Central Africa.⁷³ After touringthe national parks of Rhodesia, and Nyasaland, Tanganyika,K enya, Ugandaa nd Zanzibar,P ortuguese East Africa (Mozambique) and eastern Congo and South Africa he wrote: "The situation can still be savedprovided that the conservationists can induceAfrican governments and the African public to understand and follow an ecological approach".⁷⁴ After this first mission, international conservation experts soughtf or more effective ways to interest African governments in natural and wildlife conservation. As pecial project for "Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in modernA frican States" wasc onducted by IUCN and FAO, with the intention of assisting interested countries in establishingw ildlife conservation strategies. The framework of this "African Special Project" went backt oa nI UCN decision in 1960,after which two designatedexperts started to travel and promoteanumber of Eastern African countries.The FAO/IUCNA frican Special Project encompassed two approaches to natural protection-conservation as well as resource mobilisation. At the 1961c onference in the context of the special project,E uropean and US-American wildlife experts and African politicians concluded that onlyt hrough the economic incentive would natural conservation be successful in African societies. In his speech, the TanganyikanM inister of Lands and Surveys,T .S. Tewa, explained: It must,h owever,b es aid that the almost mystical and romantic regardf or wild animals which some people have,h as often puzzled the peoples of Africa. Destination Ethiopia: Heritage sites fort ourism development elephant is adangerousagricultural pest,the lion asavagekiller of men and stock, and the wildebeest an unwelcomecompetitorfor scarcegrazing. Residents in Africa expect protection fromdamagebygame and they expect to see that where human interests and those of animals conflict,the interests of animals are allowed to prevail onlyincarefullychosen and restricted areas. But if the mass of my countrymen aret ob ee nlisted in the ranks of conservationists,t hey will need to be convinced not onlyt hat the animals in these restricted areas, that is the Parks and Reserves, can be moreu se to them alive than dead, but that the money necessary to preservethem would not be betterspent on moreschools and doctors. In other words, they will expect us to see that what they are told is "their heritage", however valuable it maybeasacultural asset,can still be made to earn its keep. Can this be done? Ib elievei tc an-through tourism.⁷⁵ After the experts had made their initial tour,wheret he idea was introduced to the new African national governments,the Ethiopian government proved particularlyr eceptive to the concept.⁷⁶ Ethiopia was included in Julian Huxley's1 960 report,together with some other African territorieso fw hich he delivered an assessment by proxy,b ased on reports of IUCN observer G.G. Watterson. In this brief section, the value of Ethiopian wildlife was measured exclusively in terms of interest and attraction for aW estern audience: "Ethiopia possesses fine mountain scenery,w onderful canyons, large upland areas with ac ool climate, and manys ites of great historical and archaeological interest.T here is still af air abundance of interesting wild animals, especiallyi nt he southo f the country,b ut it is being seriously and rapidlyr educed by illicitk illing." In 1963A kalework Habtewold, Ethiopian Minister for Agriculture, submitted ar equest to UNESCO,a sking for assistance for the development of national parks and the protection of wildlife in Ethiopia. In his address to the DG and the General AssemblyofU NESCO,A kalework Habtewold stated: "It is our wish to manageand develop nationalparks and wildlife reserves in such away as to secure the preservation of their floraa nd fauna, provide centres of biological and ecological research, and contributetothe growth of the national economy, especially through the development of tourism and game cropping."⁷⁷ The requestw as metp ositively: "Fullyc onscious of the scientific, cultural, educational social and economic importance of the natural habits,o ft he wildlife, constituted by al arge variety of species, some of which are endemic, of the remarkable landscapes and archaeological sites of Ethiopia which represent an inheritance of universal interest the DG decided to support the request."⁷⁸ In 1963, afurther UNESCO mission was dispatched to Ethiopia, composed of senior experts from European and Americaninstitutions of wildlife conservation. It washeaded by Julian Huxley,with the other members of the mission L. Swift, formerD irector of the Division of Wildlife Management,U.S. Department of Agriculture, Dr.Barton Worthington, Deputy-DG of the United States-based charity organisation Nature Conservancy,a nd Professor Theodore Monod of the Musée national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. Julian Huxley had been on am ission concerned with "TheConservation of Wild Life and Natural Habitats in Central and East Africa" in 1961, leading him to include second hand informationa bout the relevance of Ethiopian wildlife and scenery,p romptingarecommendation to consign am ission to further investigate on the matter.⁷⁹ The mission'sm ain concern was, per definition of the request,wildlife, but corresponding with the DG'sfeedback, the final report contained remarks on cultural monuments as well.⁸⁰ This indicates that all actors involved understood national heritagea saportfolio of sites,a nd in aw ay that it would inherentlye ncompass both natural and cultural sites.D uring the short period of two weeks, the experts produced little more than very general recommendations, emphasising the lack of conventional, functional government institutions required to practice conservation in the first place. The report also contained, however,asuggested selection of sites, namely the "Managasha National Park", "Matahara Proposed National Park in Awash", "Abijatta Lake Proposed National Park",a " Proposed National Park in the Rift Valley" and "AS cenic National Park at the Sourceo ft he Nile.⁸¹ Another mission from UNESCO embarked to Ethiopia, during1 964/1965, carried out by Leslie Brown, former Director of Agriculture in Kenya, and Major Ian Grimwood, former Chief Game Warden of Kenya, in order to "provide assistance to the EthiopianG overnment in the field of conservation of nature and natural resources, their restoration and enrichment." The consultants themselvesd escribed theirm issions as leading to positive results,  Ibid., 6. Destination Ethiopia: Heritages ites for tourism development highlighting specificallyt he establishment of ag overnmenta uthority for wildlife, the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Organisation (EWCO). Remarkably, as with Huxley et al., Grimwood and Brown referred in their reports to the proposal for the establishment of ac onservation board in charge not onlyo fw ildlife but also "archaeological resources".⁸² The proposal went as far as to claim that only tourism would provide the justification needed for the board to successfully carry out conservation: The present wildlife potential of Ethiopia is insufficient to support al arge tourist industry on its own, in faceo fc ompetition from nearby East Africanc ountries wheregame is more plentiful and moreeasilyseen. The richness of Ethiopia'sfauna lies moreinits uniqueness than in the spectacular number of variety of animals to be seen, which tends to make it of less interest to the general public. The country has,however,historical sites and antiquities such as are to be found nowhereelse in Africa south of the Sahara. It also has some of the grandest scenery in the world. Onlybythe inclusion of such attractions intothe first major tourist circuits does it seem likelythat alarge enough flow of visitors can be created to provide the Board with the means to carry out its present primary task of savings ome of the country'sr arer animals.⁸³ The idea thatA frican natural heritageo nt he one hand needed protection from African people and on the other hand was apromisingeconomic resourcecombined racist and paternalistic thinking and shaped the tourism planning in many newlyindependent nation states in Africa. The parallels to the international programmes for the conservation of built heritageare striking:tourism appearedas an issue among international heritageexperts from the 1950s on, and came with ad istinct economic rationale.I tw as mentioned as earlya s1 949 as one of the "problems of common interest to organisations concerned with […]s ites and monuments of art and history" in am eetingo fe xperts, taking place at UNESCO.⁸⁴ Tourism, and more specificallyt he economic potential of tourism as regards historic sites,was af actort hat arose from the international perspective on historic monuments and the creation of the idea of aglobal heritagelandscape. Monuments, sites and nature were alreadyfeatures of tourist destinations in Europe, so the principle was transferred to the new international scope, and the idea of economic profit from tourism to benefit the conservation of monuments was expressed in proposals,such as the 1951plan to adopt an international convention that would instituteaspecial tourist tax for the preservation of monuments and museums.⁸⁵ The intertwiningo ft he growingr elevance of tourism and the development paradigm turned cultural and natural heritagei nto an economic resource, and provided au nique chance for UNESCO to enter the developmentp laying field. By 1960,while mainlyinvolvedineducational efforts of technical assistance, UN-ESCO'sd ivision for culturalh eritages aw itself at the intersection of both of the main arguments for tourism: the idea that tourism could promotei nternational understanding and education, as well as the requirement to develop cultural heritagea saresource in ar esponsible manner,a nd felt obliged to advance both causes.⁸⁶ Tourism, for UNESCO,promised to be ahighlyeffective pedagogic tool, aiming to present the monuments as teaching institutions for history. UNESCO initiallysaw itself as onlyconcerned with tourism in cases wheret ourism developmentp rojects carried ac ulturalc omponent.⁸⁷ Itsc ontribution to tourism aimed to counterbalance the purelye conomic interest in tourism research and planningw ith educational, culturala nd scientific impulses.
In 1962, tourism was stated to be an important means of actioni nt he first plan of proposed action for UNESCO'sinternational campaign for monuments.⁸⁸ UNESCO'sd ivision of museums and monuments commissioned as tudy to evaluate tourism statistics, in order to develop ac oncept for an "international fund for monuments."⁸⁹ These concernsweremotivated by an acute shortageoffunds for the aspirations of international conservation experts. They turned to am ore strategic planning, consideringwhat would produce the most promisingpositive public response.
In the context of the first UN Development Decade, the conservation of natural and culturalheritageand the promotion of tourism and the concerns of development were combined into am omentous plan called "Associatingt he preservation of culturalp roperty with the development of tourism":  Ibid., Preliminary Studyonthe advisability of international measures for the institutionofa special tourist tax, submitted to Executive Board, Paris, 12. Howcan money be raised for the restoration of protection of the world'sheritage of monuments?Anew Unesco [sic] plan offers an answer-turn the monuments intopayingaffairs. Unesco […]suggests,that countries should turn their culturalassets into economic ones by givingp riority to monuments in programmes of tourist development.
[ … ]U nescoi ss tudying how funds for such projects can be obtainedfromregional and international organisations and through the U.N. Development Programme, sincethe tourist industry is seen as a keyf actor in economic development.⁹⁰ In practice this resultedinanumber of expert missions concerned with tourism, based on requests from developing countries.B etween 1966 and 1980 alone, missions werec arried out to the following twenty-three countries:A lgeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cyprus, Ecuador,E thiopia, India, Indonesia (Bali), Iran, Libya, Malta, Mongolia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Kenya, Pakistan, Peru, the Dominican Republic, the United Arab Republic and Thailand.⁹¹ The tourism development missionsbetween 1966 and 1980 wereall very similar in terms of the initial task outlined, and consisted of assistingthe government in developing recommendations on the establishment of tourism as asourceofeconomic development,and in giving directions for developing existingresourcesof natural or culturals ites to as tandard sufficient for their touristice xploitation. Operating strictlyonthe premise thathistoricalsites and natural beauty presented the onlyp otential pointso ft ouristici nterest in all of the aforementioned countries,t he consultants travelled to assess the respective sites in question, and the country in general, accordingt ot heir destination value. In most cases, the experts wereaffiliated not with the field of tourism or economic planning,b ut rather with the fieldso fa rchitecture, art history or natural science. Nonetheless,they weretaskedwith analysingthe tourism potential, and counted hotel beds and smooth surface road-kilometres, evaluated the quality of service and attractions offered, and delivered investment and profitability recommendations. Finally, they developedc oncrete plans and proposals,rangingf rom legislative and administrative changes to social and urban planning,a sw ell as specific restoration works.
In Ethiopia,Lalibela was the first siteofextensive international cooperation and official engagement with the Ethiopiang overnment to restore the monuments and provide for their conservation. Initially, Ethiopia requested to launch an international safeguardingcampaign modelled after the Nubian Monuments Campaign. Even though UNESCO did not want to commit to af ull-sized safeguardingcampaign immediately, "they wanted to provet hat His Imperial Highness' appeal to them was met with favour,they approved the idea of sending immediatelyt oE thiopia, at their owne xpenses, an expert to make financial estimations and technicals uggestions about the restoration, provided that the Ethiopianp arty took charge of the local expenses( hotel and transport) of the said expert."⁹² This resulteda tt he beginning of 1965i najoint suggestion by UNESCO and the AmericanSociety of Archaeologytothe International Fund for Monuments,a newlyf oundedA mericano rganisation (whose Chairman was Colonel James A. Gray), which "immediatelya greed to make the Lalibela Project the first one to be launched by the new organization."⁹³ These effortsw erel ater considered by UNESCO and UNDP staff as akind of preparation for further successful international projects in Ethiopia.⁹⁴ Soon after the works in Lalibelab egan, UNESCO'sf irst mission concerned with the institutional advancement of Ethiopian heritage-making dispatched Richard Howland, Professor for Archaeologyand Art History,Secretary-Treasurer of the U.S. National CommitteeofICOMOS and chairman of the Department of Civil History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.,in1967tobring forth "practical recommendations and suggestions […]f or those who have the heavy responsibility for developing an Antiquities Administration for Ethiopia."⁹⁵ This endeavour resulted in areport entailing Recommendations for the Organization of the Ethiopian Antiquities Administration. Thet echnical director of the Lalibela project,architect Sandro Angelini of ICCROM, oversawand plannedthe restoration work, but returned for follow-up missions with am ore general scope.
Ian Grimwood and Leslie Brown had alreadystated in theirreport that only tourism would provide the justification to install conservation institutions that could successfullyc arry out "the primary task of conservation, believing that Destination Ethiopia: Heritage sites fort ourism development conservation alone would not provide enough priority and incentive in the eyes of the Ethiopian government."⁹⁶ Indeed, the issue of culturala nd natural heritagea ttracted attention as an item of development planningdue to its potential for creatingt ourist destinations and establishingt ourism as an economic sector in Ethiopia. In 1968 the Ministry for Planning and Development submitted ar equest to UNESCO to send an expert for legal and organisational aspects of cultural heritage, so as to build asystematic foundation for the developmentofsites of cultural heritagea st ourist destinations.⁹⁷ The Cultural Heritage division of UNESCO had its eyeonEthiopia,asdid the UNDP regional representative in Addis Ababa, with the objectivei nm ind to execute alarger-scale project,combiningdevelopment planning,tourism and conservation of monuments, and presented this possibility to the Ministry of Planning in 1968.⁹⁸ In pointingt ot he possibilityf or al argera mount of funding to be made available as af ollow-up to the initial project,UNESCO managed to secure the interest of the Ministry of Planning, which added considerable weightto the cause of conservation. Togetherw ith the economist Louis Mougin, in 1968 Sandro Angelini offered ar eport titled Proposals for the developmento fs ites and monuments in Ethiopia as ac ontributiont ot he growth of cultural tourism.⁹⁹ Twoyears later in 1970,the consultant B.G. Gaidoni conducted astudyonCultural Tourism: Prospectsf or its Development.¹⁰⁰ All of these missions contained, in parts, recommendations to the institutional organisation of the heritage-making institutions as well as the legislation regarding heritage.
Tourism presented ar ecurringc omponent of all conservation activities in Ethiopia.F or manyi tc arried ap romise of salvation for developing countries, and several targeted activitiesg uided by that belief werei nitiated within UNESCO and other institutions like UNECA and FAOd uring thatt ime.These included surveying the touristicp otential of countries based on economic prospects or infrastructurali nvestment schemes thataimedtoimprovet he standard of tourist destinations and make them more accessible. In this zeitgeist, another of Sandro Angelini'smissions in 1971 finally brought aconcrete workingplan for the developmentofindividual sites alongsidethe "Historic Route" to the table.¹⁰¹

Doing culturalt ourism in Ethiopia
In the eyes of the heritagee xperts, the existing heritages ites werem erelyafew diamonds in the rough, looselys trewn across the country.The international experts perceivedadire need for structural improvement,conservation and image promotion. Gaidoni,the onlyUNESCO expert dealing with Ethiopian tourism development with as pecific background in tourism expertise, travelled along the "Historic Route" and,although he admittedthat the monuments needed restoration and protection from vandalism and weathering, his main concern was the lack of destination value from the presumed tourist'sp oint of view.I na ddition to the improvement of hotel facilities, the servicea nd number of available beds in general, his assessment wasc haracterised by the ideat hat the monuments alone would not createe nough value to make travel there worth the tourist's while and money.F or Lake Tana, he proposed, after an initial restoration of the churches on the Lake'sislands, the addition of sailing clubs,fishing lodges, bathing establishments and more, to "insure [sic] that visitors will come".F or Gondar,h es uggested ag olf course, tennis courts and bowlinggrounds-clearly having the European/British upper-class tourist in mind.¹⁰² And, for Lalibela: "Entertainment is totallyl acking.A tl east as mall cafe or bar should be built […]. Am iniature golf and as wimmingp ool would add diversion for the tourist, because visitingt he churches in the villages […]w ould take more than one day."¹⁰³ With all the modernisation and addition of leisurelyfacilities for the tourists' sake, however,h ec autionedt hat "the alteration to the character of the locale and to the landscape that these suggested changes would inevitably introduce, must be confined to the alreadyu rbanized areas" so as "not to alter in the least the appearance and authenticity of these other localities".Hewrotefurther that, "It would be apity to destroy the possibility of the elation of discovery."¹⁰⁴ Most noteworthya re Gaidoni'ss uggestions to not onlyi mprovet he monuments as sights, but alsotoestablish ashowcase of local arts and crafts, as well as per-  In accordancew ith the idea thatt ourism to the country'sh eritages ites would improvee conomic development,t he first naturala nd cultural conservation consultancies and projects werec oncerned as much with tourism as with the heritages ites themselves.¹⁰⁵ In the project reports,t he internationallya cclaimed architects, art historians and wildlife experts who weres ent on these consultancy missions by UNESCO relentlesslye mphasised the contribution that the developmentofh istorical monuments and sites would provide towards the growth of tourism. The experts' assessment of the tourism potential of individual heritagesites and their surrounding regions had adirect influenceonwhich sites weregiven priority in the direction of international funds and national institutional capacities for conservation. Furthermore, it influenced the general programmatic direction of heritage-makingi nE thiopia. Grimwood and Brown emphasised in their reports that al arge enough touristicp otential would onlyb ec reated with ac ombined promotion of natural and culturalh eritage, acknowledging at the same time the greater relevance and potential of cultural heritagea so pposed to natural heritage. Consequently, the effortst aken in the following years werem ainlyi n the areas of culturalh eritagec onservation and presentation.
As regardsw ildlife conservation, tourism underwent at ransformation during this period from game safaris towards an emphasis on naturalo bservation and photo safaris, and this process caused the proper development of ac onsistent strategic approach to suffer.The planningofthe "Historic Route" influenced the establishment of natural heritagei nsofar as the distribution of resources goes. The Simien National Park was chosen as af ocalp oint for these efforts as it was adjacent to the planned "Historic Route",and promised to provide touristic potential because of the unique mountain-riff-scenery as well as the rare species present.¹⁰⁶ After moret hant en years of consultation and conservation effortst hrough UNESCO'se xperts, the conditionsf or heritage-making had matured enough by 1974 to take the next step towards shaping the Ethiopian nationalheritageinaccordance with the universalstandards of heritage. Yetdespite several preparatory missions, Ethiopian heritagew as still not in ap osition to launcht he safeguardingc ampaign thath ad been requested and envisagedf or it.A sa nother preparatory step, as even-year project entitled Presentation and preservation of selected sites was launched in 1975,fundedand organised by UNDP and admin- Huxley et al., "The Conservation of Nature";Brown, "Conservation of Nature";Grimwood, "Conservation of Natural Resources";A ngelini and Mougin, "Proposals for the Development"; Gaidoni, "Cultural Tourism";A ngelini, "The Historic Route".  Gaidoni, "Cultural Tourism",49.
Destination Ethiopia: Heritage sites fort ourism development istered by UNESCO.¹⁰⁷ Thisproject was deemed necessary to build up in the first instance the national capacities for receiving and puttingt ou se international donations for safeguardingt hatw ould be made available with the campaign launch.¹⁰⁸ Originallythe project ETH 74/14was titled TheDevelopmentofCultural tourism: preservation and presentationo fs ites and monuments¹⁰⁹ and with the new raison d'être of heritages ites as tourist destinations, the project qualified as one of the "sharper focus and greater impact potential […]p rojects which are economic but which have maximum multiplier effects"¹¹⁰ that UNDP tried to establish as ap riority in Ethiopia. Although after ap ersonal visit the UNDP resident representative Alan Elliott was doubtful in internal correspondence about the realistic possibilities, in the official languageo fr eports and requests and also correspondence with the Ethiopian authorities, the promotion of tourism was enthusiasticallyd efended and fostered by UNDP and UNESCO representatives.¹¹¹ After the first several missions, UNESCO acknowledgedt hat the government would need more assistance to "promotetourism and increase the value of culturalh eritagea nd natural sites."¹¹² After the 1974 revolution, the government still desired the development of tourism, but its valuation shifted.¹¹³ The declaration on "Economic Policy of Socialist Ethiopia by the Provisional Military Government of Ethiopia",i ssued on February 7, 1975,stated that, "It should, however,beemphasised that the conservation of wildlife,birdlife, etc. particularlyofthe rare species, and the preservation of the antiquities willbeviewed primarilyasnationalobjectivesintheir own right and not onlya sameans of attracting foreign visitors."¹¹⁴ Although in the UNDP country programme for Ethiopia for the period 1983 -86 the UNDP still stated "the highi mportance which the Ethiopian government accords to the dimension of culture in the development process",¹¹⁵ the development of heritages sites as destinationsw as no longer considered as important.I nr eality not only the re-orientation of the political paradigm but mainlythe ongoing political and military conflicts presented as trong inhibiting factor for all tourism activities. Travel bans and states of emergency made large parts of the "Historic North" inaccessibletoforeigners for almost adecade. In the years between 1983and 1988, the tourism sector had avery low priority,asoverathird of the national budget was allocated to defencea nd internal security.The nationalisation of all private hotels,t our operators and agenciesp revented anyp ossibilityo ff oreign private investment.F urthermore, tourism suffered from the continuous lack of infrastructure and from insufficient marketing.¹¹⁶ UNESCO and UNDP representativesa ttempted to adaptt he project guidelines to the new political directions and paradigms of an ew administration which refused to see culturea sc omplimentary or to be simplye mployed in the service of tourism and economic development,a nd emphasised how "for the preservation of culturalh eritage, in this context ad evelopmento fc ultural identity would provide importantg uidelinesf or economic development,i n which tourism components weren ot vital, but would be ar esult."¹¹⁷

Turning the heritage sites into destinations
While the development of tourism never did accomplishwhat had been predicted in the 1960s, the promotion of tourism and the scientific expert evaluation of heritages ites were however of major importance in helping create at ourist imageo fE thiopia.E xpertsa greed earlyo nt hat anyp lanning had to revolve around creating as trongi mageo fE thiopia that would have as pecific appeal to tourists.A ccordingt ot he UN tourism expert VojislavP opovic, Ethiopia's main assetinterms of tourism was, in fact,not the mass-tourism marketflowing into coastal resorts or which looked for easy,pre-arranged "wildlife-coast" pack- The independence of Eritrea resulted in the loss of some of the most promisingtourist destinations alongt he Red Sea coast,a ccording to:F rederick A. Frost and Tekle Shanka, "Perception of Ethiopiaa saTourist Destination", Ethiopia in Broader Perspective: Paperso ft he XIIIth International ConferenceofEthiopian Studies 348 -50 (1997). Untilthe 90s,the tourism brochures from the 60s and 70sp resented the onlyt ourism promotion material available and they are todays till sold at souvenir stalls at the tourist destinations, supposedly because no new ones exist in sufficient quantity.  Draft report of the tripartitem eetingf rom 27.1.1978, Project ETH/74/014,i n: UNESCO 069:72(63) UNDP pt.vi.
Destination Ethiopia: Heritage sites fort ourism development ages, but its "appeal […]tothe well-to-do, sophisticated sightseeing tourists".¹¹⁸ These weret he experiencedi nternational travellers seeking out the unique and largely different attractions of Ethiopia:u nspoiled nature, fascinating landscapes,n umerous ethnicg roups and "the long history of independent rule, the traditional dynasty whose origin is interwoven with legend of the pre-Christian era[…which] make Ethiopia acountry whose original featurescan very well be used to createat ouristicallyv ery attractive imagei nt he minds of the public and tour organizers."¹¹⁹ Like Popovic, Gaidoni stated that "the first and most urgent task in the process of buildingatourist industry in Ethiopia must be the creation and diffusion of the tourist imageo ft he country." He sketched out: First,likeEgypt,Ethiopia has its own unique architectural and historical reality,with sites likeG ondar,A xum, and Lalibela as outstandingt ourist offerings.S econdly, like Kenya, Ethiopia boasts the wildlife resources of its national parks,A wash, Simien, and Bale. Lastly,E thiopia betters either Egypt or Kenyaw ith its sunshine and sea beauty,M assawa, the Dahlak Islands,a nd in general the Red Sea coast.This Ethiopia can offer at riple image, but because Ethiopia is also an African country,t his image must be thoroughlyA frican. What Imean is this: Even if Ethiopia is buildingmodern cities and new industrial enterprises, it has to offer the tourist points of interest he does not find at home, be that in Europe or North America. It is this other world imagew hich must be established to attract the attention of the prospective tourist.The proper tourist image,then, is the first thing an ETOteam of experts should establish.¹²⁰ The establishment of tourism as astate economic sector had astrongimpact on both imagep roduction and the circulation of knowledge of Ethiopian heritage. In order to attract foreign investment and to promoteEthiopia as tourist destination on the international market,two government institutions were put in charge of tourism marketingc oncepts and campaigns: EAL and the ETO. Both institutions receivedf oreign technical assistance and foreign advisors contributed significantlyt ot he production and planning of tourism images and slogans. Tourism promotion experts from Germany, the UK and France, funded via bilateral programmes of technical cooperation, worked for the ETO, developing tourism promotional materials thatw ould advertiset he benefits of Ethiopia in the languageo fW estern commercial advertising.¹²¹ EAL'se arlyt ourism promotion al- Popovic, Tourism in Eastern Africa,9 2.  Ibid., 90.  Gaidoni, "Cultural Tourism",7 .  At least six full-time advisors,two of which werer esponsible for the development of publicity,overaduration of several years,are listed in the followingreports: UNDP, "Report on Development AssistancetoEthiopia in 1972 -Prepared by the Resident Representative of the UNDP readyo perated with catchys logans, such as "The Wonderland Route" or "The Land of Queen of Sheba",a lludingt ot he Western fascination with Ethiopian heritagea nd history.¹²² The director of the ETOw as HabteS elassie Tafesse, formerlyh ead of the press and information department of the EthiopianI mperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and head of Tourism in the Prime Minister'sO ffice. He receivedh is primary education and socialisationg rowingu pi nA thens as the foster child of a Russian OrthodoxC hristian family, and his secondary education in Alexandria, Egypt,whereh is Ethiopian birth father served as ambassador for Ethiopia. He receivedh is higher education in the USA.¹²³ He brought ad ecidedlyW estern, state of the art expertise, and sense for marketinga nd imagep romotion to all areas of governmentp ublications directed towards af oreign audience.¹²⁴ After the establishment of the ETOi n1 966,afull-scale marketings trategy was developed under his direction, includingt he slogans "The hidden empire" and "13 months of sunshine",which referred to the Ethiopian use of the Julian calendar as opposed to the Gregorian one, resulting in an additional month¹²⁵ and implying,i nt he marketingc opy, not onlyt he benefitso faconsistently mild and sunnyc limate throughout the year but also thatf or the tourist more was to be found than expected in Ethiopia.¹²⁶ HabteSelassie alsocreated Ethiopian Pavilionsfor the World Expositions in Montreal, Canada in 1967(which can be seen on the cover imageofthis book)and in Japan in 1972, as well as regularly showcasingE thiopia at the Internationale Tourismus-Börse (ITB) in Berlin.P art of this strategyw as imagep roduction that established and curated the sites of culturaland natural heritageastouristic destinations. These images were orientated towards the Western interestinE thiopia,f ocusing on exoticised images of "ethnic" facesa nd singlingo ut monuments.¹²⁷ in Ethiopia," 41,4 2; UNDP, "Report on Development Assistancet oE thiopia in 1973" (Addis Ababa: Office of the Regional Representative of UNDP,A pril 25,1974), 46,4 7.  Pamphlets, in NALE 1.2.18.01,E thiopianA irlines.  He spokeG reek, English,F rench and Russian but was not an ative Amharic speaker.  Interview between Arefayne Fantahun and HabteS elassie Tafesse, May2 016 in Addis Ababa, notesk indlyp rovided to me by Arefaynie Fantahun; Tafesse Habte Selassie, "Tourism".  To balanceo ut the leapy ear.  EthiopianT ourist Organisation, 13 MonateS onnenscheini nÄ thiopien,1971.  The imagesofthe posters to the thirteen month campaign were and arewidelypopular and can still be found servinga sdecorationi nE thiopian restaurants today. Personally, Ih aves een them in every Ethiopian restaurant Ihavevisited so far,inBerlin, London and Oakland, CA. Furthermore, in Facebook-groups dedicated to sharingh istorical photos of Ethiopia, these images aref requentlys hown and continue to circulate.
Destination Ethiopia: Heritage sites fort ourism development Fort he planningo ft ourism in Ethiopia,the establishment of ap ortfolio of historic sites along the "Historic Route" was firmlyc onnected to the belief that onlyt hese sites held enough potential to attract largern umber of tourists, deemed an ecessity to onset the general touristic development of Ethiopia.¹²⁸ After the overall tourist development plan from 1969, another plan was commissioned with aU S-consulting firm, selecting that tourism investment and development should be concentrated on the "Historic Route" for the decade 1970 -1980,and be connected to the establishment of achain of eight first-class hotels along the "Historic Route".¹²⁹ The "Historic Route" formedt he coreo ft he marketings trategies of both EAL and the ETO, which published numerous pamphlets, books, posters and brochures. More than thirty different pamphlets, dedicated to individual places or activities of touristic interest,d emonstrate the broad scope thatt ourism development enjoyed for ab rief period: guides for dayt rips from Addis, fishing,c amping,d iving,w hite-water rafting,a sw ell as pottery,j ewellery and wild flowers.¹³⁰ Fort he period of two years, am onthly newspaper, Tourist News,was published by the ETOi nE nglish and French (as nouvelles touristiques), containing ar otatings tock of articles about the main sights as well as changes in current information.¹³¹ At the coreofthe promotional material remained the "Historic Route" or the "Historic North" and most of the guidebooks published are decoratedonthe cover with isolated, iconic images of the classic heritages ites in Lalibela, Axum, Gondar and Simien,o rc ontain a map of Ethiopia assembled of nothing but the images of the main heritagesites.
Archaeologists of the French "Instituté thiopien d'études et de recherches" as well as heritagee xperts workingf or the government authorities for cultural heritage( CRCCH) and wildlife (EWCO) contributed textsa nd images towards the production of the brochures and travel guides published by the ETO, such as the brochure BigGame,which was produced in collaboration with John Blower-who served as the director of EWCO-or AncientS ites of Northern Ethiopia, which included texts by Francis Anfray,a rchaeologista tt he French Institute.¹³² Within just afew years, an array of symbolic images of Ethiopia was created that helped to manifest the keytropes of ancient empire and isolated naturalbeauty as icons representing Ethiopian history and heritage.
This gave expertsadouble function, turning them, in addition to their expert role, into mediators of knowledge to an interested, educated Western public. Ap articularlyv ivid example is the round trips organised by the British Swan Tours in 1972-73.F our "special interest tours" altogether weret aking place in Ethiopia,w ith renowned scholars of Ethiopian Studies accompanying the tours as guides-Richard and RitaP ankhurst,h istorians and political activists for the Ethiopian cause, two key figures for the scientific and political development of Ethiopia in the twentieth century.Other tours wereguided by Sir Patrick Kirwan, aB ritish archaeologist who had undertakenr esearch in Axum among other sites in the Horn of Africa, and the historian EdwardUllendorf.¹³³ In asimilar manner, in 1971,the US American Wilderness Expeditions Inc. offered aguided "Ethiopian Highlands Tour",a dvertising that for ten of the fourteen days of the tour,t he group would be accompanied by British-Kenyan zoologist Leslie Brown, as easoned wildlife advisor to international organisations,a sw ell as to the Ethiopian government,w ho also lectured at the university in Addis Ababa. In the advertisement for the tour,b eneficial effects of tourism to the Ethiopianh ighlands weree mphasised: "The influenceo fi nternational travelers can be determinative on this issue [environmental degradation through agriculture], as Ethiopia is most anxioustodevelop tourist trade. Andfew tourists will be anxious to visit ab urnt-out and plowed under wasteland devoid of wildlife."¹³⁴

Consulting and the tourist gaze: UNESCO'sc ulturalt ourism development projects
How did the promisinga nd paternalistic tourism plans translate into reality? During the 1960s manyAfrican countries indeedstarted to seethe arrivaloftou-  rists, but the situation and the resultsvaried tremendouslybetween countries.¹³⁵ In some countries,f or example Morocco and Tunisia, the tourism sectors were economicallyb eneficial,b ut the necessary sectorial investmentss till left the tourism sector as an et consumer of surplus, meaning that the overall profit from tourism was still lower than the investments. This created apositive balance for economic developmentbut anegative one for the grossnationalproduct.F or some countries on the other hand, such as Kenyaa nd Tanzania,e arnings through tourism werer elatively weak but still am ajor contributor to GNP and presented, for some years at least,the largest sourceo ff oreign currencyi no therwise weak economies. Accordingt oK enyan geographer Joseph B. Ouma, who undertook tourism research duringgeographical fieldwork inEast Africa, in 1968, tourism presented the largest sourceo ff oreign currencyf or some East African countries likeKenya, Uganda and Tanzania,and it was avital factor of economic development,evena head of coffee or tea.¹³⁶ In the end, differencesbetween individual developing countries werel arge and not easy to explain, let alone to compareortransfer,ineffect renderingthe prognosisbehind the tourism development policies of ECOSOC,UNCTADa nd the respective expert studies as pure speculation.¹³⁷ In reality,inmanycountries the growth of anationaltourism sector was inhibited by the lack of effective state policies. Furthermore, the allocation of resources, consistent sectorial planning and afeasible integration of tourism in national development plans was beyond the capacity of manygovernments. In fact, it was often the caset hat an increase in tourist arrivals didn'tn ecessarilyr esult in correspondinggrowth in the tourist sector.Package tours,organisedbyEuropean or North Americantour operators, wereoftencompletelydevoid of anysubstantial effect on the national economyo ft he destination country,a st he profit was earned in the tourists' country of origin. This resulted in av ery low rate of gross foreign exchangei nflow,w ith the operators having no viable interest in buyingand hiring locally, justifyingtheir decision by referring to the insufficient standard available. The introduction of protectionist European airport and char- ter-flight regulations made it impossible for African and Asian airlines themselvest oo perate flights for touristsf rom Europe to their countries,a dding to that negative effect.¹³⁸ It was ac atch-22 situation: countries that lacked funds to provide the necessary infrastructure also lacked the tourists required to generate the critical amount of income necessary for these funds.
Nevertheless,w hile these countries served as examples of the positive impact of tourism on economic development,p resentinge xaggerated prognoses for the economic benefit was ac ommon strategyinc onsultant reports to stimulate amaximumamount of investment and follow-up funding.International experts' assessment usually led to the inclusion of their recommendations in the national five-year development plans, promptingthe launchoffurther technical assistance for infrastructure and vocational training,for preservation and for the presentation of sites.T echnical assistance linked to conservation and tourism carried with it secondaryb enefitsi nt erms of infrastructural investmentsa nd tourism development opened up yetanother line of argumentationfor large projects from the World Bank or similar donor organisations.¹³⁹ The positive expectations of the potential benefits and outcomes of tourism weretemperedbystrong criticism which questioned not onlythese promises and potential benefits, but also drew attention to the negative impact and inherent risks for the destination countries in the developing world. The promises of tourism remained adream removedfrom reality for manycountries and astrongcritical tourism discourse emergedinparallel from the 1960s. Because of the general skills shortagei nm anyd eveloping countries,t ourism development would not onlycause abrain drain from more important sectors, but would also necessitate ah ighc ost in expatriate skills. Due to its complexity and context-sensitivity, tourism was declaredtobeahighlyunsustainable economic product.Anchored in ascientific analysis of sociocultural costs and benefits, studies aimedtoshow the exploitative tendencies of speculative land booms, the high investment nec- Destination Ethiopia: Heritage sites fort ourism development essary to create jobs in the tourism industry and the reinforcement of divisions along social stratat hrough large scale developments.¹⁴⁰ One of the responses that developed from the criticism of (mass) tourism was the concept of cultural tourism. One paradigmo ft ourism that guided commercial expansion and touristicenterprises was "bringingt he known to the unknown",b ut the detrimental effect of commodifyingc ulturea nd heritageo n local communities and traditionalv alues and culturalp ractises was quickly raised as an issue. After several studies on the social impact of tourism,the conclusion that tourism presented not onlyachance for education and income but indeedaveritable danger to traditionalcultureinhosting countries became more widespread. In areportfrom 1974,Peter Lengyel, editor of UNESCO's International Journal of Social Sciences, shared his observation on cultural tourism in Bali, which was amajor focal point wheretourism and its effects wereperceivedasa problem by the political authorities of the country itself: "It would seem to me to be impossible in these days of mass travel for as mall but well-known place […] to maintain its culture in afrozen state since obviouslythe changinglife and the consciousness [of the local population] will cut them off increasingly from their own roots."¹⁴¹ He argued for an international responsibilityt oe mpower local culture, and educatea nd train the local population better so they would have something to shield them from the "tasteso fu ndiscriminating Philistines",¹⁴² who werej ust trophy-huntingf or objectst hat resembled theiri magination of the destination. Cultural tourism provided an alternative to tourism as am eans to increase economic developmento rf or profit,a nd wass upposedt oc urb the destructive impact of economic principles on cultural identitiesand communities.Through efforts such as sensitive marketinga rrangements, the government-guided production of arts and crafts souvenirs, or planning codes aiming to create an "integrated environment",o ne that is beneficial for locals and tourists alike in  This critical discourse marked the beginningo fa no rientation in anthropological tourism research towards the impact of tourism, establishingconcepts such as John Urry'stheory of the "tourist gaze" and its transformative power on host societies:d eK adt, World Bank, and UNESCO, Tourism: Passport to Development?,3 4 -49;L anfant, "Tourism",1 7 -22;W alter van Beek and AnnetteS chmidt, "African Dynamics of Cultural Tourism",i nAfrican Hosts &T heir Guests:C ultural Dynamics of Tourism,e d. Walter van Beek and Annette Schmidt( Woodbridge, Suffolk; Rochester,N Y: James Currey, 2012), 1-33.  Report on cultural tourism in Bali fromM r. Peter Lengyel, January 1974,i n: 069:72:380.8 A 193.  Ibid. historic urban centres,cultural tourism was believed to help the preservation of culturala nd craft traditions.¹⁴³ In reality,UNESCO'sc ultural tourism assistance projects weren ot exactlya counter-concept,b ut merelya na ttempt to connect some of UNESCO'sc ultural concerns to amore widelyrecognised line of argumentation for development assistance. When promotingthe issue of culturaltourism and conservation to governments of developing countries,i nm anyc ases UNESCO argued for and justified the initiative of projects with the supposede conomic stipulation resulting from the projects.I nB urma, ar equest for assistance for conservation was declined, with UNESCO stating it could onlyg ivef unds if the conservation was for tourism development purposes.¹⁴⁴ It was declared ap rerequisite that firstly tourism had been evaluated as amajor sourceofpotential income to the country and then, secondly, the monuments could be proven to contributes ignificantly to thatp otential. Through UNESCO ac ounter-position to the economic focus within the tourism discourse in particular,a nd the development discourse in general, was voiced, but it remains questionable whether these efforts ever amounted to anysignificant impact.Just as the economic analysis lacked an understandingo ft he socio-culturala spects of tourism development, the reports drawnupbythosewho wereconservators and architects by training lacked economic expertise,yet they included estimatesf or the capital public and private investments necessary for the planning and development of airporti nfrastructure and road networks.¹⁴⁵ Next to an understanding of the technological and economic implications of tourism, it is part of adistinctlymodernist discourse, representative of changing worldviews and global-local relationships within the reality of the modern, postindustrial societies of the Global North. As explained earlier,o ther forms of society in earlier periods had variations of mass travel, the most prominent being pilgrimage, but onlyi nt he distinct setting of employed, industrial and post-industrial labour could travel be fullyconceptualised as tourism. Per its definition, the technicalassistance for the development of tourism was confined to develop- Emanuel de Kadt, "Arts, Crafts,a nd Cultural Manifestations",i nTourism: Passport to Development? Perspectives on the Social and Cultural Effects of Tourism in Developing Countries, ed. Emanuel de Kadt,W orld Bank, and UNESCO (Oxford;New York: OxfordU niversity Press, 1979), 68 -76.  Letter fromHiroshi DaifukutoT .R. Gairola, 21.5.1970, in: 069:72 (591) AMS.Document courtesy of Clara Rellensmann.  Angelini and Mougin, "Proposals for the Development",Annexes 3, 4, 5, 6, and 9; J.C. Pollacco, "Nepal -Development of Cultural Tourism" (Paris,S eptember,1 968:U NESCO, n.d.), 12-18.
Destination Ethiopia: Heritage sites fort ourism development ing countries.The experts, however,wereofW estern provenance.¹⁴⁶ When these expertss poke of tourism in their reports, they operateds trictlyo nt he basis of the imagined potential of tourism comingf rom Western countries to the socalled developing ones.
In as tudycommissioned in 1968 by the UNECA, the UN tourism expert Vo-jislavP opovic argued for the tourism potential of Eastern African countries in particularbasedonthe steadyrise of the averagedisposable income in Western countries.G iven the equidistant location of Eastern Africa to Western tourists' countries of origin in comparison with more established destinations,¹⁴⁷ he argued further that it would onlybeamatter of developing competitive destination values and promotingthem effectively. He identified the North Americanand the Japanese markets as the most relevant targetg roups for marketinga nd pricing strategies,n ecessitatingafocus on reducingt he cost of transportation as a first step, and in shapingthe tourist attractions to the liking of Americantourists as as econd step¹⁴⁸.A ccordingt oP opovic, leisure and nature would be not be interesting enough for American tourists to travel overseas, but cultural performances,artefacts and places would do the trick: "American tourists are genuinely interested in people, their wayoflife, both modernand traditional, old customs, folk dancesa nd songs, old architecture, large cities, shopping,h andicraft,a nd with good promotion aconsiderably largernumber of American tourists maybecome equallyi nterested in wildlife."¹⁴⁹ Spendingp ower existed mainlyi nW estern countries and among African elites,a nd developing countries were marketed as destinations using images that would reflectt he ideas of Western customers or alluded to upper class ideas of leisure.C ultural heritagea nd practices weret ransformed into "intangible products" and "aesthetic services",readytobeconsumed by tourists.¹⁵⁰ Perceptions of these countries weres haped accordingt oo rientalist,e xoticist ideas and UNESCO engaged and accelerated the production of these images with its  As an exception could be consideredt he chairman of the Maltese Tourism Commission, whoserved as an expert advisor for the report on Nepal, while at the same time the Maltese government receivedasimilar mission: J. Mougin, "Malta -Conservation of Sites and Monuments in the Development of Tourism" (UNESCO,1967);E.A. Connally, "Nepal" (UNESCO,1968).  Such as the Middle East (including Turkey and Greece), the USA, Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas,Jamaica, Bermuda and Trinidad and Tobago: Popovic, Tourism in Eastern Africa,16-17.  Ibid., 17-24.  Ibid., 25.  What Jonas Larsen and John Urry describe as "intangible products" and "aesthetic services":J onas Larsen and John Urry, TheT ourist Gaze 3.0 (London; Thousand Oaks, CA; New Delhi; Singapore: SAGE, 2011), 77,h ttp://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781446251904. culturalt ourism missions and publicity activities.¹⁵¹ Often, the development experts' assessment extended beyond the economic sphere, going as far as to praise the supposedlyb eneficial "social welfare" effects that the mere presence of tourists (which they imagined as rich, whitef oreigners) would have for the local people. Thetype of tourism promoted by the UNESCO culturaltourism missions was related more to the historic origins of tourism from British and French upper-class travels, the Grand Tour,than to the mass tourism phenomenon and thus enhancing the discursive quality of heritageactivities as arepresentationof aW estern worldview.¹⁵² Av ery influential doctrine held by manye xperts and politicians was that manyd eveloping countries,e speciallyi nAfrica,w erev irtuallyb are of rawr esources or the potential to modernise and industrialise fast enough to keep pace with ag rowingg lobal economy. In order to achieves ignificant earnings of foreign currency, the key object was to find atrade that would make it possible to achieve the maximum amount of commodification without requiring al arge investment or anyi ndustrial production.¹⁵³ Tourism promised to readilyd eliver on that expectation and was seen as the most valuable export product for some countries.E xperts commonlym ade gross generalisations, claiming that tourism would soon be "the fastest growinga nd potentiallyt he largest single East African foreign exchangee arner".A fterh is 1960 mission for the conservation of wildlife in East Africa, Julian Huxley summarised and emphasised what manyb elieved to be the solution for East Africa in particular: in our region, an increasingproportion of this population of travellers could be readilyinduced to makee astern Africa their goal.¹⁵⁴ The stereotypical images and imperialist thinkingshining through in Julian Huxley'sa rgument here werec haracteristic for the tourism planning language. Experts considered tourism to East Africa to be fuelled mainlybythe "growingpreferenceo ft he European publicf or sunnya nd warm climates",a nd the desire to enjoy "unspoiled nature,includingtropical forests, magnificent waterfalls, lovely lakes,unusuallyscenic mountains",¹⁵⁵ features perceivedtobeonthe decline in Europe due to the transformation of landscapes through industrialisation and the spread of high-densityu rban agglomerations. Natural conservation experts agreed: "The National Parks and reserves of Africa have awonderful opportunity of filling aw orld need-modern man'sc raving for contact with nature."¹⁵⁶ As regards UNESCO and the experts workinga sc onsultants on the tourism missions, the tourism assistance offers ag limpse into the mechanics and workingsofthe international system duringacrucial period of growth. Possessingan area of operations in the field of tourism developmentgaveUNESCO ameans to increase its influencea nd relevance. Carrying out these studies helped UNESCO and its commissioned expertst os trengthen their role as producers and brokers of knowledge within the development discourse and beyond. It sheds light on the fact that international organisations like UNESCO and their international policies provided ah ub for am ultitude of interests, bestowingalabel that could easilyb ea ppropriated in different ways by the different actors involved. As alreadystated, for manygovernments,one of the biggest immediate economic benefits of tourism development was its potential to open up further possibilities for accessing large scale infrastructural development funding.
Without the economic incentive of cultural tourism,n of unding would have been available for developing countries to put into effect the conventionsregarding heritageprotection. Projects,s uch as the creation of inventories or scientific evaluation accordingtothe elaborate standards of ICOMOS, would not have been possiblet hrough the existing development budgets of the Participation Programme, Funds in Trust or the World Heritage Fund. Largerprojects,such as institutional development and legislation in Ethiopia, were necessary in manydeveloping countries to meet even the basic requirements.¹⁵⁷ Those projects were onlyp ossible because largera mounts of money could be redirected from development programmes such as the UNDP,S pecial Funds or the World Bank.
The final reports of the tourism missions all shared adeeplyinvasive wayof looking at the countries,their people and their culture. In short,they approached the local cultures and national identities with atourist gaze-the view of tourists on their surroundings, which is guided by as et of expectations in the tourists' minds, and objectifies people, places and culturalpractices.¹⁵⁸ Through the tourism developmentm issions, knowledge production within the context of the development decade was furnishedw ith ap articulard imension of touristic imagination. The promotion of tourism relies on ac onsensual languageu sed and comprehended between the producers and recipients of the promotional material.¹⁵⁹ Tourism,l ikeh eritage, necessitatedadiscussion about people, places and events in terms that would be understood by the major audience for tourism in the Western hemisphere, and consequentlys haped local culture and nature into narrativesa nd concepts that would fit into the Western worldview.¹⁶⁰ UNESCO and the other international actorsi nvolvedw erei nc harge of culturalp roduction and the representation of culturali dentities, providing meaning to how those cultures weres een everywheree lse and acting as knowledge producers for national and culturali dentities.
Like in Ethiopia, within manydeveloping countries this imagery,and the paternalistic development ideologies behind the culturalt ourism missions, were not far from the local ruling elites' perspective on the people living at sites of potential touristic interest.The Western experts' assessment of what constituted the country'sm ost relevant history was oftenvery similar to the idea of those internationallyc onnected and educated elites.¹⁶¹ From along-term perspective,tourism missions did indeedcreatealong-lasting destination value in manydeveloping countries,insofar as they had asignificant impact on the evolution of national heritagec onservation and the World Heritage Programme. Through their reports the consultants established and unlocked funding for collaboration and for expert activityi nt he heritages ector of manycountries.Inparticular, this contributed significantlyt othe success of the World Heritage Programme in its earlyyears, as manycountries could provide at least some heritages ites that would meet the elaborate scientific standards required for aW orld Heritage nomination. Tourism missions represented acritical mass of activities that notablyf ostered the successful implementation of the World Heritage Convention by providing astock of heritagesites readyfor nomination as World Heritage. These sites had been restored and conserved in collaboration with UNESCO.Without all these preceding activitiesi nc ulturalt ourism, owing to the developmentd ecade, therew ould not have been so manys ites alreadyi nt he UNESCO system by the time the World Heritage Programme came into being.

Tourisma svehicleo fh eritage-making
The increased priority on the development of tourism prompted an increase in attention from UNESCO,a si tp romised to provide largerb udgets for projects to develop.¹⁶² Shortly after the EthiopianM inistry of Planning announced the new orientation of the developmentp lan as regards tourism,U NESCO'so ffice of relations with member states (not the cultural heritaged ivision) organised a mission to Ethiopia.T he monuments, wildlife areas and scenic landscapes lacked the provisions to be visited by largercrowds or ahighnumber of visitors over the year.In1968, even the infrastructure of the major pointsoftouristic interest,along the "Historic Route",was assessed to be largely insufficient and incapable of absorbingevenarelativelyminor growth in tourist numbers.¹⁶³ Initiating this mission, similarlyt op revious successful missions in other countries "whereimportant projects for conservation and development of sites and monuments [were] now under way",wereateam composed of an architect-restorer,an economist-planner and amember of the UNESCO secretariat.¹⁶⁴ This interaction marked the beginning of the manyactivities involving UNESCO that would result in the consideration thatE thiopian heritagew as fit to be included in the World Heritage list.
As aresultofthis,during the visit of UNESCO'sDGRené Maheu to Ethiopia, culturaltourism was adopted as as pecial point into the cooperation agreement between the imperial Ethiopian government and UNESCO.The detailedexplana- In the letterf romB elai Abbai to Malcolm Adiseshiah (footnote5 53) the word tourism was circled in red.  Angelini and Mougin, "Proposals for the Development",5 .  Response letter from Malcolm Adiseshiah to Abbai, 14.2.68, UNESCO X07. 21 (63) pt.i v. tion of the "culturalt ourism" point declaredt hat UNESCO would provide assistance in creatinganinventory of monuments and works of art,aswell as for the preservation and conservation of nature.¹⁶⁵ UNESCO'sh eritagee xperts readily picked up on the assessment thatt ourism was crucial for Ethiopia'se conomic development and that the country had great potential, as tourism would provide the funds necessary for conservation. This explains whyt he UNESCO missions for cultural and naturalh eritageb etween 1968 and 1984 were concernedw ith tourism planning effortsi nr elation to wildlife and culturalh eritagec onservation.
The gravitationalinfluenceofdevelopment aid and expected tourist revenue re-structureda nd re-aligned the national heritagelandscape of Ethiopia, whereby in additiont ot he economic aspect,h eritage-making also served varied political agendas. Developing tourism in Ethiopia was as much motivated by economic prospects as it was by the outlook of creating as trong, world-wide iconographyo fs uccess. The proponents of tourism predicted that "the time will come whent he EthiopianT ourist Organization will be proud of […]b eing the sole organization to succeed in moving Ethiopia into the channels of world economy, in order to operate wherein anyc ountry must first of all be known."¹⁶⁶ The use of symbolic images of monumental and natural heritages ites in Ethiopia is impressively visible in the first tourism campaigns and in general government representationi nt he years following the Italian occupation period and the subsequent years of recovery,d evelopment and modernisation. The "Historic Route" and maps of "Greater Ethiopia" wereused to install adominant historical narrative.I mages of heritagew erec ondensed into as trong iconographyo fn ational heritage, utilised to foster national identity and servea sa ni mportant tool for governance and representation. In the Ethiopian imperial state, and likewise in the following military governmentand under the Derg, the use of selected historic sites served to create the imageofacountry that had ar ight to its claims of power and relevance in the international order,a nd likewise held the promise of developing into an economicallys trongn ation.
The international heritagee xperts took the increased relevanced erived from the touristic initiativet ot heir advantage,a nd tried to arguet hat only with aproperlyset up scientific standard of conservation, as state responsibility,  Aide-memoire on points of agreement reached at the inter-ministerial meetingo nc ooperation between the imperial Ethiopian Governmenta nd UNESCO,3 1.7. 1968 in: UNESCO X07. 21 (63) pt.i v.  Ianus.Organizzazione per gli studi el er icerched ie conomia applicata S. p. A., Ethiopian Tourist Development Plan,13.
Destination Ethiopia: Heritage sites fort ourism development could the development of heritage-sites into destinations reap fruitful results. They werea ware that "the Ethiopian Government [was] in no better position than other governments to devote large sums of money to conservation for ethical reasons alone"¹⁶⁷ and thatconservation in its own right would remain alowpriority task in terms of budgeta llocation. In their report,A ngelini and Mougin suggested avery detailed restructuring of the existingbureaucratic infrastructure of all authorities related to tourism. Realising that tourism concerned the responsibilities of nine Ministries altogether,they concluded that the ETOshould be attachedtothe Prime Minister'soffice,tosit near yetoutside the necessary ministries.¹⁶⁸ Because of the economic reasoningthat tourism wasnecessary for development,h eritage-making changed status from ar elatively peripheral issue in the government'sr esponsibilities to am ore central role, involving the Ministry of Planning.Tourism accelerated the process of heritage-making in Ethiopia significantly, with an emphasis on developing thosea spects which werep articularly relevant for connectingEthiopian heritagetothe concept of universal heritage. Angelini, in his work plan for the "Historic Route" insisted on an inventory of all heritages ites,l ike Howland, which was to be started in the "Historic Route" area.¹⁶⁹ As am atter of fact,i tw as onlyt hrough the incentivesp rovided by tourism that the conservation and heritage-making projects of UNESCO found an administrative counterpart in the Ethiopian government that would actualisec ertain projects towards implementation. After the input of all expertsi nt he development of tourism, the "Historic Route" was givent he highest priority by the Ministry of Development and Planning.¹⁷⁰ It is importanttonote that the missions of Angelini and Mougin (preparation of tourism development), Angelini (the "Historic Route")a sw ell as Gaidoni (tourism development) weren ot requestedb y the Ministry of Education or in context of the Antiquities Administration, but by the PlanningC ommission, which was in charge of the five-year development plans and part of the Ministry of Development and Planning.¹⁷¹ Tourism had turned the making of Ethiopianheritageinto adevelopmentactivity.Asaconsequence, heritage-making gained in relevance within the administration; from being the concern of onlyt wo smaller ministerial departments for culturala nd natural conservation it respectivelyb ecame an inter-ministerial matter.T he  Grimwood, "Conservation of Natural Resources",5 .  Angelini and Mougin, "Proposals for the Development",3 1.  Angelini, "The Historic Route",13; "Recommendations",3-5.  Angelini and Mougin, "Proposals for the Development",4.  Letter from Belai Abbai to Malcolm Adiseshiah, 4.1.1968, UNESCO X0 7. 21 (63) pt.i v. more extensive bureaucratic procedures of heritage-making that followed, necessitated by the economic planning and facilitated by new actors such as the tourism consultants, should proveuseful. In manyofthese tourism planning efforts, the requirements for documentation and management planning,which wereparticularlyi mportantt of ulfil the formal criteria for World Heritage,werea lready partiallyo rw hollyf ulfilled.