Tourism Ethiopia, Facebook collaborate to offer digital marketing programme

Addis Ababa, March 18, 2021 (FBC) -Tourism Ethiopia in collaboration with Facebook has announced today the launch of Boost with Facebook for Tourism Ethiopia -a digital marketing programme for Ethiopian SMB’s in the tourism and hospitality sector affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The programme is being implemented by Summer Media, a local digital marketing company in Ethiopia.

According to Facebook’s Global State of Small Business Report released last year, the tourism and hospitality industries were hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This Boost with Facebook programme which was launched in August 2020 as a pilot programme in Ethiopia aims to help 5,000 businesses in the tourism sector learn how to use the Facebook family of apps (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) to boost their businesses’ marketing efforts online.

Commenting on the programme, Weldegebrial Berhe, Marketing Director at Tourism Ethiopia said, “Tourism Ethiopia is delighted to work with Facebook and Summer Media to implement the Boost with Facebook for Tourism Ethiopia.

“We encourage tourism stakeholders and SMBs to sign up and equip themselves with the necessary digital marketing skills they need to recover from the losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and to enhance the online presence of Ethiopia as a tourist destination.”

Mercy Ndegwa, Facebook’s Head of Public Policy in East & Horn of Africa added: “We remain committed to supporting governments and the private sector across the region in recovering their economies due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is now more important to equip and empower businesses, communities and the next generation of leaders to better utilise the power of digital tools and take full advantage of what the internet has to offer.”

The programme is currently being run virtually through instructor-led live webinars session’s led by Summer Media.

The programme aims to help its participants identify business constraints caused by COVID-19, learn how to manage stranded assets and develop new strategies and business initiatives to survive the pandemic.

The programme also equips SMB’s with skills on building an online presence with Facebook, storytelling on Instagram, connecting with audiences through Facebook groups, growing business through Whatsapp and implementing advertising strategies on Facebook’s family of apps.