Abstract

The rock hewn churches of Lalibela are among the nine tangible sites in Ethiopia registered in the world heritage list. The study was carried out to asses and identifies the major challenges and future perspectives of Rock Hewn Churches of Lalibela (RHCL) for a sustainable tourism development in Ethiopia. The study used concurrent mixed method of data collection such as questionnaire, interview, observation and document review. A total of 288 respondents from local communities and visitors were used for collecting primary information via semi-structured questioner. The majority of respondents are participating in tourism sector such as in accommodation, shopping, hotel, cooking and traditional performance, serving as priest and being experts in the city administration office of culture and tourism. Despite its importance, regarding the negative impact of tourism; the majority of respondents 70 (63.6%) agreed and 27 (24.3%) disagree for the question “tourism has increased the level of commercialized culture in Lalibela town. Around 87.6% of the respondents were their first trip to visit the RHCL. Hence, among the RHCL Bete Amanuel, Bete Abba Libanos, Bete Medhanealem, Bete Merkorios, Bete Giorgis are highly endangered in the parts such as roof, pillars, interior and exterior parts cracking due to the newly constructed shelter load and geological, climate and biological factors. The conservation and maintenance works used to sustain tourism practices in Lalibela lacks adequacy. Therefore, the stakeholders of the RHCL such as government organizations, local community, civil societies and development investors must work to meet standards for conserving and sustaining tourism development practices in Ethiopia, particularly in Lalibela town.

Key words: Conservation, Ethiopia, Lalibela, sustainable, tourism.