ethiopiafirst.info

Over 80 million Birr income was secured from more than 52,000 tourists, who visited tourist sites in Lalibela Town, North Wollo Zone of Amhara State during the just ended Ethiopian budget year, the town culture and tourism department said.
Heritage conservation and tourism development work process coordinator with the department, Habtamu Tesfaw told ENA that 37,000 of the tourists are foreigners. The number of domestic visitors has increased by nine per cent while that of foreign tourists grew by 30 per cent compared to that of in the previous year.
Habtamu said activities carried out to promote the sites contributed to the growth in the number of visitors.
The town, originally known as Roha, is home to one of the world's most astounding sacred sites, eleven rock-hewn churches, each carved entirely out of a single block of granite with its roof at ground level.
Roha was renamed after King Lalibela of the Zagwe dynasty. King Lalibela is credited for building the famous rock-hewn churches in the 12th century.
Ethiopia has a number of tourist attractions. Nine of its heritages are inscribed by UNESCO as world heritage. The rock-hewn churches of Lalibela are one of the heritages inscribed by UNESCO.
Three of the nine Ethiopian World Heritage sites, the Simien National Park, Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela and Fasil Ghebbi of Gondar are found in the Amhara State.
The Axum Obelisks, Lower Valley of the Awash , Harar Jugol Wall, Lower Valley of the Omo, the Tiya Carved Stelae and Konso cultural landscape are among the nine sites registered by UNESCO.
source:http://www.ena.gov.et