Project Traveller aims at the construction and professional management of service areas along selected tourist routes in Ethiopia. Such service areas would offer clean and well-run fee-based toilet systems, a guest house with potable water, washing rooms, laundry machines and resting places for a fixed user-fee, dependable power supply from solar and wind energy systems, a café with high-speed internet access offering food from local farms, and lots of rooms for rent to franchises of fast food, grocery and pharmacy chains. Furthermore a business can be created out of waste products, recycling used bottles and using food waste as animal feed, converting human waste products into biogas, grey water for irrigation, and fertilizer.
All the services would generate income, which can be used to pay local employees and invest in their further education. Once the services for the travelers become profitable, there would be capital available to invest in local businesses designed to respond to people’s needs. These services may include agro-dealer shops, pharmacies, finance institutions, health centers, improved schools etc. Moreover, since clean and well-run service areas are visiting card, it may induce travellers to spend more time and money in the village, maybe buying local souvenirs and food specialties. This would further stimulate business in the village and its surroundings. Back to project slide view