The White House said the visit to Addis Ababa will come after a previously announced trip to Kenya, where Barack Obama will be attending the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit.
Since becoming the president of the United States, Barack Obama has visited five African countries: Ghana, Egypt, Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa. The president used his 2009 trips to Ghana and Egypt to articulate his broad and ambitious policy of engagement towards sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab world, respectively. In 2013, the president made a longer trip to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania. During this visit, the president announced initiatives that aim to deepen commercial relations, support regional trade logistics, and enhance security.
Ethiopia and Kenya are working together to increase the length of stay of tourists in East Africa.
Having different tourist attractions, some of them are world heritages, both countries believe that cooperation would help them to improve the tourism sector. The two countries have different types of tourist attractions, so increasing the length of stay of tourists can be easy.
Most of Ethiopia’s tourist destinations are cultural and spiritual, while Kenya is home for attractions displaying various aspects of nature.
To facilitate this, both countries are engaged in infrastructure expansion. Road networks and direct flights between the two countries are major means for increased tourist flow between the two countries. The completion of the Addis Ababa- Moyale road, part of the Trans-African Highway Cairo-Cape Town road network, and daily flights of the Ethiopian Airlines to Nairobi and Mombasa will improve the sector.
The Lamu Port Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (Lamu Corridor) being undertaken by over 25 billion USD by Ethiopia, South Sudan and Kenya will add an impetus to the sector as well.
Source:
http://www.voanews.com/content/obama-to-become-first-us-president-to-visit-ethiopia/2829796.html
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/africa-in-focus/posts/2015/02/20-obama-africa-nigeria-kenya-ethiopia-kimenyi
http://www.ena.gov.et/en/index.php/politics/item/228-ethiopia-kenya-working-for-lengthy-tourist-stay
