An excursion to TissAbay /the Blue Nile Falls/

An excursion to the Blue Nile Falls is organized for staff.

The Department of Tourism and Hotel Management, in collaboration with the managing director office of College of Business and Economics, organizes an excursion to the Blue Nile Falls for staff at College and at Faculty of Social Sciences on October 18, 2020.

The trip was organized with three major objectives: 1) to help the staff be aware of the tourism resources and tourism development at TissAbay; 2) to announce the restart of tourism in Ethiopia after about seven months of closure as a measure to curb the spread of Corona virus; and 3) to give the staff members a time to ‘relax’, staying away from daily routines, before the start of the 2013 E.C. academic year.

The glamour of Blue Nile Falls/ BNFs is at its best since some years now due to the long rainy season and the heavy rain in the Lake Tana basin. The volume of the waterfall decreases during the dry season, especially from January to May due to diversion of the water for hydropower production at Tana Beles and Tiss Abay stations. It is a right call to visit the site before the water which is the source of the pleasure recedes.

Though the BNFs is one of the major tourist sites in the country, infrastructure, specially the road to TissAbay town from Bahir dar city and the footpath to the Blue Nile Falls is a major problem to tourism development in the area. This has been a major source of complaint by tourists traveling to the Blue Nile Falls. Moreover, lack of tourist standard facilities and services are also a problem for tourism development in the area. Due to these and other related problems, the local communities are not benefitting from the industry as expected, except in some activities like tour guiding and boating services.

Asphalting the road is underway now, and upon completion, it is expected to boost tourist flow to the Blue Nile Falls. For a sustainable tourism development in the area, it is necessary to balance the use of water for hydropower generation and tourism development. This should be put to place for optimal utilization of this wonderful natural gift as a source of income for the surrounding community and as a means to build the image of the region and the country at large.

A total of 198 people participated in the excursion, including the College Dean Dr. Alebachew Asfaw.

We invite everyone to visit the spectacular Blue Nile Falls! Go enjoy the beauty of nature!