Ethiopia is endowed with unique landscape, paleontological, archeological, historical and living cultural tourism attractions. Based on these attractions diverse types of tourism including: living culture tourism, history tourism, archeology tourism, paleontology tourism, park tourism, ecotourism, agro-biodiversity and coffee tourism, rural tourism, conference tourism and sport tourism are the common tourism forms in the country. Ethiopia’s diverse tourism resources are widespread in almost all part of the country. Tourism industry therefore touches the lives of all Ethiopian societies. The following are broad categories of the country’s tourism features.
HSTORICAL SITES AND MONUMENTS
In terms of historical relics, Ethiopia owns nine World Cultural Heritages registered by the UNESCO. These National heritages include the Obelisk of Aksum, Fasil Ghebbi (Castles of Fasil in Gondar), the fortified City of Harar (Harar Jugol), the Rock Hewn Churches of Lalibela, the Simien Mountains, the Lower Valley of the Omo River, the Lower Valley of Awash and the Konso Cultural Landscape (Southern Region) and Tiya.
• The Obelisk of Axum at the ancient city of Axum-Tigray is supposedly 1,700 years old. It stands as a symbol of remote civilization since 4th-century AD. 24-metre-tall granite stele weighs 160 tones
