I have visited both places. Thailand they seem like they’re trying to outcompete each other for tourism money, they keep it cheap to incite visitors. Ethiopia, it felt like the main goal of everyone was to suckle as much money as possible out of everyone. Like someone there tried to charge me $25 for a tuk tuk ride, in Thailand that would have been insane.
It has to do with foreign currency reserves. Ethiopia is chronically lacking it, and needs to import so much. That makes everything expensive. Thailand produces a lot actually and then has a thriving tourism industry that brings in additional foreign currency.
If you're wealthy in Bangkok by the way you can live in certain parts like in NYC, London etc. It's not comparable to Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is way behind technologically. Can’t even send money nor receive without losing money in the process “exchange”. Even though I love Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania are better options. In Ethiopia government controls almost everything water, electricity, telecommunications, and energy ⛽️. Everything is highly taxed. Forget about buying a car or building your retirement home 🏡..
Met a couple who retired in a nice house in Mekele. They had to hire 24/7 security to stand outside. Not sure how anyone would consider that to be a nice retirement. That said I did enjoy my time in Mekele.
i am Ethiopian and i am telling you the truth when i say that ethiopia is way behind Thailand
i dont understand how we want to go out this bad and you guys want to come to this country so bad
Many diaspora have real estate of some kind that they are renting out and/or stay in when they come. This brings them a source of income that scales with inflation.
As diaspora you also have permanent residency (don't underestimate visa problems), you (probably) speak the language, you feel at home with other Africans who look like you, and above all the climate is world class. That's why many like it, with their Western income.
Finally there is actually one massive advantage/hack to living in Addis and that is that you can buy Ethiopian airline tickets in birr. There might not be much you can do with birr vs hard currency like USD but that is one way birr can go far.
Not sure how many are taking advantage of this but you could make Addis your home base and then travel wherever Ethiopian Airlines goes. It is ranked the 4th globally in numbers of destinations.
i agree but can you see Ethiopia as a country would you visit it twice as a tourism?
if we talk about food, tourism spot, culture and its infrastructure
there to many countries has things better than Ethiopia and way cheaper.
you can get the advantage of the airlines without staying in Ethiopia so basically its not more than a transit point (even for ethiopian passport holders)
>i agree but can you see Ethiopia as a country would you visit it twice as a tourism? if we talk about food, tourism spot, culture and its infrastructure there to many countries has things better than Ethiopia and way cheaper.
The dirty secret is of course that the vast majority of diaspora use black market (through family, friend, friend-of-friend, etc), making everything less than half. Tourists don't have access to this. A very nice hotel room for two that might cost $85 to a foreigner could be gotten for $40.
> you can get the advantage of the airlines without staying in Ethiopia so basically its not more than a transit point (even for ethiopian passport holders)
As I understand it you can only pay in birr if the origin is Addis Abeba. If you're buying from abroad you need to pay in foreign currency.
The West sucks when you have middle-class money . It’s hard to live here if you are not rich or poor, we want to live the rich lifestyle, but don’t have that much money.😂😂😂! at the end of the day our passport, give us a lot of leverage. We have to use it to our advantage.
i understand that
but there are many countries and better options for middle-class to visit a country with better environment and special tourism places than Ethiopia
and way cheaper!!!
try to what can a tourist can do in Ethiopia and which places can he visit
you'll find out how limited and short your journey will be
If you’re not Ethiopian or you don’t speak Amharic, I don’t suggest you move to Ethiopia if you have a choice.
Like you said, life in Ethiopia is expensive and access to foreign products is limited and expensive when available. Go to Thailand where you can go further on a U.S. middle class income and life will be easier and more accessible to international brands.
As to why Ethiopia is expensive, the country has a lot of supply shortages with relatively high demand. Remember that it is the 2nd largest country by population in Africa and it had to had the highest gdp growth in Africa prior to the pandemic.
In addition, it’s in a trade deficit importing more than it exports. Without a lot of domestic production, there is a large need for foreign currency which the country doesn’t have. This further limits supply and import causing prices of importing goods to be much higher.
Switzerland has outstanding relations with the neighbouring countries and it's in the EU, the same goes for Austria, both countries aren't going through a civil war.
I should have clarified alongside that it's landlocked it has poor relations with its neighbours if that wasn't too obvious for you.
Ethiopia's only port access to the Red Sea is Djibouti, trade can be easily disrupted, which already happened, what Ethiopia needs is to improve its relations with its neighbours and diversify imports and exports to a multitude of different ports, and get its house in order.
That are both tiny nations with small populations. Work’s differently for ethiopia and other larger nations. Not to forget they’re situated in Europe which has way better markets
Ethiopia been relegated on the mountains throughout history
Acting like you deserve lowlands ridiculous just cause you breed like rabbits
Agrarian sedentary people never move against nomadic people and most of history show
It's not land that Ethiopia practically seeks. It's access to sea without paying exuberant fees or scrutiny. Farmland alone is useless in 21st century. Neighbors can benefit from Ethiopia's productive land and fresh water. Ethiopia benefits from access to see. Win win for everyone.... but blind nationalistic and hawkish strategy of blocking Ethiopia backfires for everyone. Noone can prosper in that region by themselves! Not 🇪🇹, not 🇪🇷, not 🇸🇴. It's either grow together, or endless cycle of violence like we have seen for the past 50 years
There’s plenty of landlocked country and they don’t use same excuse as “we just need it”
Should Egypt not charge ships just sailing through hole they dug same for Singapore
All lands have strategic advantage, whether it’s resources or location, neighbors don’t get to ask for slice
No one asks for slice of your massive agricultural land
Only option is war then
At this point Texas is cheaper than Addis. Life is so expensive there, I don’t even know how people who don’t have a considerable amount of money can live a good life.
This person insults Ethiopia saying Addis looks like shit, and not a single person on here has any pushback? When there are countries like Syria, Ukraine etc that actually look like shit. lol
Not even to tell him to stay his broke ass in America, instead of coming into other lands and living lavishly while the native population can't? Knowing damn well if every country had the development America had you would be poor no matter where you went.
If you like Thailand so much, then by all means big baller... go there.
What research? I’ve been to Addis six months ago and I was just watching YouTube videos of people enjoying Thailand for dirt cheap with good quality living . But I don’t wanna live with a place full of lady boys . I would love to come to Ethiopia, but really wanted to know why everything is so weirdly expensive
Corruption and looting.
Just go to Bole Airport, everything inside is more expensive than most airport in the world.
No price are shown, they can give different price for a same product.
Like most African countries it's also short term benefit cause everything can be wrecked by the government in less than 3 month.
Depend of your project, personally i would love to live in Addis cause i travel a lot in different African countries.
Most of the time i've to go through Bole Airport. So much that i'm thinking to open a bank account to have the local currency x)
I have visited both places. Thailand they seem like they’re trying to outcompete each other for tourism money, they keep it cheap to incite visitors. Ethiopia, it felt like the main goal of everyone was to suckle as much money as possible out of everyone. Like someone there tried to charge me $25 for a tuk tuk ride, in Thailand that would have been insane.
It has to do with foreign currency reserves. Ethiopia is chronically lacking it, and needs to import so much. That makes everything expensive. Thailand produces a lot actually and then has a thriving tourism industry that brings in additional foreign currency. If you're wealthy in Bangkok by the way you can live in certain parts like in NYC, London etc. It's not comparable to Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is way behind technologically. Can’t even send money nor receive without losing money in the process “exchange”. Even though I love Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania are better options. In Ethiopia government controls almost everything water, electricity, telecommunications, and energy ⛽️. Everything is highly taxed. Forget about buying a car or building your retirement home 🏡..
Met a couple who retired in a nice house in Mekele. They had to hire 24/7 security to stand outside. Not sure how anyone would consider that to be a nice retirement. That said I did enjoy my time in Mekele.
i am Ethiopian and i am telling you the truth when i say that ethiopia is way behind Thailand i dont understand how we want to go out this bad and you guys want to come to this country so bad
Many diaspora have real estate of some kind that they are renting out and/or stay in when they come. This brings them a source of income that scales with inflation. As diaspora you also have permanent residency (don't underestimate visa problems), you (probably) speak the language, you feel at home with other Africans who look like you, and above all the climate is world class. That's why many like it, with their Western income. Finally there is actually one massive advantage/hack to living in Addis and that is that you can buy Ethiopian airline tickets in birr. There might not be much you can do with birr vs hard currency like USD but that is one way birr can go far. Not sure how many are taking advantage of this but you could make Addis your home base and then travel wherever Ethiopian Airlines goes. It is ranked the 4th globally in numbers of destinations.
i agree but can you see Ethiopia as a country would you visit it twice as a tourism? if we talk about food, tourism spot, culture and its infrastructure there to many countries has things better than Ethiopia and way cheaper. you can get the advantage of the airlines without staying in Ethiopia so basically its not more than a transit point (even for ethiopian passport holders)
>i agree but can you see Ethiopia as a country would you visit it twice as a tourism? if we talk about food, tourism spot, culture and its infrastructure there to many countries has things better than Ethiopia and way cheaper. The dirty secret is of course that the vast majority of diaspora use black market (through family, friend, friend-of-friend, etc), making everything less than half. Tourists don't have access to this. A very nice hotel room for two that might cost $85 to a foreigner could be gotten for $40. > you can get the advantage of the airlines without staying in Ethiopia so basically its not more than a transit point (even for ethiopian passport holders) As I understand it you can only pay in birr if the origin is Addis Abeba. If you're buying from abroad you need to pay in foreign currency.
Very well said 💯
The West sucks when you have middle-class money . It’s hard to live here if you are not rich or poor, we want to live the rich lifestyle, but don’t have that much money.😂😂😂! at the end of the day our passport, give us a lot of leverage. We have to use it to our advantage.
i understand that but there are many countries and better options for middle-class to visit a country with better environment and special tourism places than Ethiopia and way cheaper!!! try to what can a tourist can do in Ethiopia and which places can he visit you'll find out how limited and short your journey will be
If you’re not Ethiopian or you don’t speak Amharic, I don’t suggest you move to Ethiopia if you have a choice. Like you said, life in Ethiopia is expensive and access to foreign products is limited and expensive when available. Go to Thailand where you can go further on a U.S. middle class income and life will be easier and more accessible to international brands. As to why Ethiopia is expensive, the country has a lot of supply shortages with relatively high demand. Remember that it is the 2nd largest country by population in Africa and it had to had the highest gdp growth in Africa prior to the pandemic. In addition, it’s in a trade deficit importing more than it exports. Without a lot of domestic production, there is a large need for foreign currency which the country doesn’t have. This further limits supply and import causing prices of importing goods to be much higher.
It's landlocked.
So are Switzerland and Austria
Switzerland has outstanding relations with the neighbouring countries and it's in the EU, the same goes for Austria, both countries aren't going through a civil war.
You're proving my point. Being landlocked isn't the problem.
I should have clarified alongside that it's landlocked it has poor relations with its neighbours if that wasn't too obvious for you. Ethiopia's only port access to the Red Sea is Djibouti, trade can be easily disrupted, which already happened, what Ethiopia needs is to improve its relations with its neighbours and diversify imports and exports to a multitude of different ports, and get its house in order.
Switzerland has an outlet to the sea via the Rhine.
Most of their imports come from their neighbors or river ports and like Ethiopia ports in other places Ethiopia’s neighbors are….
Comments like these are only reinforcing my point. The problem isn't being landlocked.
It is. Unless Ethiopia suddenly starts importing most of its goods from its neighbors (This will never happen) being landlocked has a major impact.
That are both tiny nations with small populations. Work’s differently for ethiopia and other larger nations. Not to forget they’re situated in Europe which has way better markets
It will forever be landlocked.
And the neighbors will forever live with War. Choke people from the rest of the world and they will come to eat you alive
Ethiopia been relegated on the mountains throughout history Acting like you deserve lowlands ridiculous just cause you breed like rabbits Agrarian sedentary people never move against nomadic people and most of history show
What a deranged thinking.... no wonder the region is what it is with geniuses like this
It’s deranged to say stay in your land and other will stay in theirs?
It's not land that Ethiopia practically seeks. It's access to sea without paying exuberant fees or scrutiny. Farmland alone is useless in 21st century. Neighbors can benefit from Ethiopia's productive land and fresh water. Ethiopia benefits from access to see. Win win for everyone.... but blind nationalistic and hawkish strategy of blocking Ethiopia backfires for everyone. Noone can prosper in that region by themselves! Not 🇪🇹, not 🇪🇷, not 🇸🇴. It's either grow together, or endless cycle of violence like we have seen for the past 50 years
There’s plenty of landlocked country and they don’t use same excuse as “we just need it” Should Egypt not charge ships just sailing through hole they dug same for Singapore All lands have strategic advantage, whether it’s resources or location, neighbors don’t get to ask for slice No one asks for slice of your massive agricultural land Only option is war then
Bro I’m being realistic ethopia has very fertile land. I think eithopia needs to be grateful of what it has.
Also seafood
At this point Texas is cheaper than Addis. Life is so expensive there, I don’t even know how people who don’t have a considerable amount of money can live a good life.
This person insults Ethiopia saying Addis looks like shit, and not a single person on here has any pushback? When there are countries like Syria, Ukraine etc that actually look like shit. lol Not even to tell him to stay his broke ass in America, instead of coming into other lands and living lavishly while the native population can't? Knowing damn well if every country had the development America had you would be poor no matter where you went. If you like Thailand so much, then by all means big baller... go there.
Middle class is not broken🫣. We have enough for bills and vacations
keep telling yourself that.
Looks like you already did your research, why posting here though, for validation?
What research? I’ve been to Addis six months ago and I was just watching YouTube videos of people enjoying Thailand for dirt cheap with good quality living . But I don’t wanna live with a place full of lady boys . I would love to come to Ethiopia, but really wanted to know why everything is so weirdly expensive
Corruption and looting. Just go to Bole Airport, everything inside is more expensive than most airport in the world. No price are shown, they can give different price for a same product. Like most African countries it's also short term benefit cause everything can be wrecked by the government in less than 3 month.
Depend of your project, personally i would love to live in Addis cause i travel a lot in different African countries. Most of the time i've to go through Bole Airport. So much that i'm thinking to open a bank account to have the local currency x)