Cultural village ready for business at Bishoftu

Kuriftu Ethiopian Cultural Village featuring Ethiopia’s first water park was inaugurated yesterday, August 31. The Cultural Village is a new tourism destination at Bishoftu in a bid to promote Ethiopian culture, art and cuisine. The project was completed in two and half years in spite of the hard currency shortage.
Built on over 70,000sqm of land, Kuriftu Cultural Village has 120 shops, a water park, wine and beer hall, cultural restaurant and spa.
“As part of encouraging local business, Ethiopian products are showcased and made available for visitors in all shops,” said Tadios Getachew, owner of Kuriftu Resorts and Spas.
There is something for everyone at the water park; a wave pool, two water houses, boomerang slide, spiral slide with famous Fekat circus as a performance center that accommodates 400 participants. The Cultural Village is an expansion made adjacent to the Kuriftu resort that sits on 30,000sqm.
“The Kuriftu water park is really a tourist destination as it suited to hold facilities for all age levels,” Michael Tesfaye, Marketing Director of Boston Partners said.
The village will provide visitors with an experience of custom, practices, rituals, dances, folklore, and arts. The completion of the cultural village will create 1,000 jobs.
Owned by Boston Partners, the company has more than 10 operational businesses in places like Bahir Dar, Semera, Langano, Adama and Djibouti.
“We want to be a chain of resorts, spas and restaurants all over Africa,” Tadios adds.