The New Face of Ethiopian Travel: From Status to Substance

By Aksah Italo
Published on 10/27/25

Samuel Getu, a wealthy businessman, spends most of the year in the relentless pulse of boardrooms and balance sheets. When the calendar allows, he trades boardrooms for the rhythm of travel, treating summer breaks and Christmas as sacred opportunities for family vacations that take him across Asia and the northern hemisphere.

“Summer breaks and Christmas are my ideal time,” Samuel says. “That’s when I retreat from work to go on vacation.”

His family trips are hardly ordinary. He takes his family to destinations as varied as the skyscrapers of Dubai, the vineyards of Canada, and the beaches of Thailand. Yet, Samuel insists his journeys are not only about an escape and a leisure.

He says that he finds meaning in exploring places that breathe history, architectural marvels, antique buildings, sites that hold the weight of heritage.

The pandemic disrupted this rhythm, grounding him for two years. This forced stillness deepened his appreciation. “I have learned to value travel even more after the Covid shutdown,” he said.

Samuel’s love of exploration is, in many ways, an extension of his family’s own journey. His family business dates back to 1975, when his father, Getu Gelete, began a small textile trading venture. By the 1980s, the enterprise had grown into a family undertaking, and today it has evolved into a sprawling conglomerate spanning real estate, logistics, manufacturing, asset management, and investments across sectors with billions of birr in turnover.

“Being introduced to different cultures and ways of life can change your perspective,” he says.

For him, travel is restorative, a way to refresh the mind and soften the body.

Samuel’s habits echo a broader truth. For the wealthy, travel is not a luxury, it’s a necessity, pursued with passion, almost greedily. Five-star resorts, luxury yachts, and private residences across the world depend on such spending wealthy travelers.

From luxury yachts to cultural pilgrimages, the wealthy are not just spending, they’re redefining what it means to travel in a post-pandemic world.

Industry experts point out that the concept of luxury in travel has undergone significant transformation over the past century, mirroring changing consumer tastes.

According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) new report, international visitor spending is forecast to reach a record-breaking 2.1 trillion dollars in 2025, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. This year alone, travel is expected to contribute 11.7 trillion dollars to the global economy, accounting for 10.3 percent of the global GDP.

Julia Simpson, President of the WTTC noted in a briefing that travelers’ renewed appetite is a powerful vote of confidence in the sector.

“People are continuing to prioritize travel,” she said.

Yet Julia cautioned that while the global picture looks strong, the recovery remains uneven. Some countries are reporting record-breaking numbers, while other major economies appear to be plateauing.

France, with its Eiffel Tower, the Louvre’s Mona Lisa, and the sun-soaked Riviera, retained its crown as the world’s most visited country with 89.7 million visitors in 2024.

Spain followed with 83.7 million visitors, luring travelers to Gaudí’s unfinished Sagrada Família and Madrid’s Prado Museum, while the United States drew 79.3 million with the pull of Broadway, Florida’s theme parks, and California’s coastlines. China and Italy complete the top five, luring crowds with ancient walls and timeless vineyards.

Some countries are betting even bigger. Saudi Arabia, for example, plans to pump 800 billion dollars into its tourism industry by 2030, seeking to carve a new niche in the global travel market.

In the U.S., one of the world’s most powerful Travel & Tourism markets, international visitor spend remained significantly below 2019 levels in 2024 and is not expected to fully recover this year.

In China, while international spending was above pre-pandemic levels last year, growth is expected to slow sharply in 2025.

Over the last century, the definition of luxury travel has shifted. Once synonymous with opulence, luxury now leans toward personalisation, exclusivity, and sustainability. Travelers want less of the hotel brand name, more of the immersive local experience.

A 2024 McKinsey survey found that 33 percent of respondents planned to splurge on travel, ranking it the third-most-popular indulgence after fashion and dining. The fastest growth is coming not just from billionaires, but from an expanding base of “aspiring luxury travelers”, people with net worths between 100,000 and a million dollars, particularly younger generations eager to trade possessions for experiences.

Older travelers, research shows, are more selective, they value family time above all, with cultural exploration often secondary.

Ethiopians, too, are part of this global current where the wealthy spend millions in luxurious vacations to different international countries.

However, it is with its challenges a recent U.S. Department of Homeland Security report revealed that 7.75 percent of Ethiopian travelers overstayed their visas, far exceeding the global average of 1.4 percent. This places Ethiopia alongside Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa among African countries with the highest overstay rates.

Ethiopian Airlines’ route network is equally expansive, connecting the city to over 127 international destinations across five continents. It flies to more than 60 cities within Africa, making it the largest carrier on the continent in terms of destinations served. Major African cities, such as Johannesburg, Lagos, Nairobi, and Cairo, are part of its network, facilitating essential intra-African connectivity that drives economic integration and development, a recent study from Airbus revealed.

For Samuel Getu, this global shift resonates personally. He embodies both tradition and reinvention, an heir to a family empire who sees travel not just as status, but as sustenance.

“Travel broadens perspective, restores balance, and deepens appreciation,” he says.

In a world where wealth alone once defined journeys, Ethiopian travelers like Samuel Getu are charting new territories of meaning. Their paths stretch from Addis Ababa to the far corners of the globe, guided not just by opulence but by curiosity, heritage, and the desire to connect with both family and culture. Luxury has become a vessel for insight, and every voyage a bridge between status and substance.

Experts perceive that, looking ahead, the focus on personalisation and exclusivity is expected to remain central to the luxury travel sector, paving the way for increasingly sophisticated and impactful experiences.