Kabenesh Girma an Ethiopian model has quietly stunned the critics
by winning Miss Tourism Africa™ 2005 at the recently concluded Miss Tourism Planet 2005 pageant held in Athens Greece,
Kabenesh was representing Ethiopia in the pageant which is an annual event in it 8th year, The objective is to
promote tourism and friendship amongst nations.
It is the second
time that Ethiopia has participated in the pageant and last years delegate Miss Tourism-Ethiopia 2004 Helina Mezegbu, also
won and title of Miss Vivid, so it makes two out of two for the Ethiopian Life Foundation which owns the exclusive licence
for Ethiopia, and is proud to be the organisation promoting Ethiopia at these sort of international events.
In other news
and events “Miss Nation 2005” Fethiya Mohammed a semi-finalist from
the Miss Universe-Ethiopia 2005 pageant, is currently in China representing Ethiopia at the International Queen of Tourism
2005 contest and has been there for the last 3 weeks, and Miss Tourism-Ethiopia 2005 DINA Fekadu departs for Malaysia for
Miss Tourism International 2005. In the coming week
Once again young
Ethiopian girls are under the guidance and direction of the Ethiopian life foundation and it founder Mr Andy, quietly but
proudly showcasing Ethiopian culture and traditions to a global audience, The Ethiopian life foundation is thus unshakable
from it position and continues to solidify its position as the largest private Public Relations Organisation Ethiopia has
at the moment, and proudly promotes Ethiopia at top international tourism related events.
Kabenesh has
been a model of professionalism and loyalty, it should be recalled that she was a participant in the first Miss Ethiopia-WorldŽ
pageant in 2003, and the Miss Universe-EthiopiaŽ 2004 pageant and has previously represented Ethiopia in Miss Tourism of the
Globe in Russia last year, and continues to show the sort of positive attitude and loyalty that will see her having a very
successful future.
Her title of
Miss Tourism Africa now gives her a huge platform to promote Tourism in Ethiopia and it is hoped that the momentum gained
from her title will be put to good use by Tourism professionals in Ethiopia to further promote Ethiopian tourism in a positive
way as part of the official goal of poverty reduction in Ethiopia, Responsible Tourism was a major theme at the 2005 Miss Universe-Ethiopia pageant which was proudly sponsored surprisingly by the Tourism Authority
of Thailand, and it was noted that over 750,000 tourist fly over Ethiopia annually
to go to Kenya for instance, by Mr Andy, the president of Miss Universe-Ethiopia Organisation, and the Ethiopian Life Foundation, and he questioned why this is so, and suggested what we in Ethiopia can do about
it, but he did not just “Talk the Talk”, he “Walked the Walk” and went out and did some thing positive
about it, like he has been doing for the positive image and promotion of Ethiopia
for the last 4 years, representing Ethiopia on the international scene, and Kabeneshes
Miss Tourism Africa 2005, title is a positive and huge step to doing something
about it, and she and the Ethiopian Life Foundation now have all the moral authority
required to promote Ethiopian and African Tourism, as ambassadors, but also not without the necessary support from the various agencies and organisation in Ethiopia who are
in the tourism business it will take a concerted effort for all of us to achieve the goals and aspirations set.
At a time when
world focus in increasingly on Africa, the time has come for us all to step up to the plate and make our achievements
and tourism attractions in Ethiopia known to a global audience
