On Thursday 9 April 2015, the UNWTO team of experts carried out the first group of inspections as part of the activities of the World Bank-funded project for Implementation of the Hotel Classification Scheme for Ethiopia.

Opening Ceremonies were organized in this respect, receiving the participation of H.E. Mr. Amin Abdulkadir, Minister of Culture and Tourism, and H.E. Mrs. Tadelech Dalaclo, Minister of State for Culture and Tourism. This included ribbon-cutting ceremonies at each of the three hotels, speeches by the Ministers, the General Manager and the President of the Hotel Association.

During his speech and in all the interviews that the Hon. Minister has conducted, he refers to this project as an "historic event" for Ethiopia.

The project activities commenced in January 2015 with the setting  up of the entire scheme for implementing hotel classification - being done for the first time in Ethiopia - and the training of inspectors which was completed in March 2015.

A team of six international assessors, in three teams of 2 international assessors each, will now assess up to 400 hotels in Ethiopia and give them their first official rating.  They will be accompanied by the national inspectors who have been previously trained, on a rotational basis, so as to further strengthen their capacities.