| Summary: | The overall significance of tourism in general and more specifically religious tourism, is obtaining greater recognition from different scholars and organizations globally. Religious tourism is explicitly being considered as one of the development options for remote and isolated religious areas in various nations. However, religious tourism is not clearly studied and identified as a capable development option in Ethiopia. Hence, this paper is designed with the objective of assessing the untapped potential and
existing problems of religious tourism development in one of the most spiritual sites of Ethiopia, Lalibela. The findings of the study demonstrated that the site is the most impressive religious tourism destination in Ethiopia with its ample religious heritages like annual religious festivals which are centuries old and its numerous live rock-hewn churches and culture. In addition, to the religious environment of the town and the people are very welcoming. However, problems like poor infrastructure, hassling, begging,
heritage trafficking, limited community participation, cultural degradation, and lack of attention to the sector by the government administrations are adverse factors which confront religious tourism development in the study area. Hence, far more productive and corrective measures are required to reduce development obstacles and to enlarge the potential of the area are demanded from all tourism stakeholders.
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