It is a windy morning, and the sun is rising over Lake Hawassa, 272Km away from the capital. The birds are chattering. Fishermen are floating on a wooden boat over the coffee-coloured river. Meanwhile, the guests of Haile Resort Hawassa seem to be more preoccupied with breakfast in the hotel's spacious dining hall than the picturesque scenes outside.

For an outsider, who had seen the hotel's empty seats soon after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the busy dining room is nothing short of a miracle. But for the management of the hotel, who have attempted every possible solution to endure the impacts of the pandemic, it is just the kind of ordinary day they were hoping for.

"Everything is almost back to normal," says Firesew Mekuria, a marketing manager at the Resort.

Haile Resort Hawassa, part of the chain of hotels under the ownership of Haile Gebreselassie, was among those hardest hit by the economic slowdown that ensued in the wake of the pandemic. Resting on 52,000sqm of land, the Resort employs over 300 people and had to close off amenities and services like meeting halls and ballrooms as the number of guests visiting dropped to virtually zero in early 2020.

In an effort to attract patrons, the Resort had even cut rates for its 126 rooms by as much as half, charging less than 50 dollars a night for a standard room, down from the usual 85 dollars.

Now, the establishment is on the road back to normalcy, with business picking up again. Domestic tourism has played a big part in the revival, according to Firesew. He relayed that occupancy rates are climbing back up, currently sitting near 60pc.

"Some tourists have started booking and tour operators are also bringing around their customers," he said.

The hospitality industry is beginning to see signs of recovery following over a year of stagnation brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Occupancy rates that were lingering around 10pc have now gone up, signaling a slow return to pre-pandemic levels. However, tourism, a major source of income for hotels, continues to languish.

The state of emergency, travel restrictions and reluctance from tourists all brought about by the advent of the pandemic had previously plunged occupancy rates to as low as two percent, and many in the industry were left struggling to cover payroll and other operational costs. The slowdown was costing an estimated 35 million dollars in losses every month.

However, lately, things have been looking up as the industry prepares for tourist season, which runs from September to April. Signs of recovery are emerging even against a backdrop of a crackdown against some hospitality establishments in the capital, leading to the closure of nine prominent hotels accused of funding the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) and allegedly involved in activities that disparage the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), among other things.

Rori International Hotel, a five-year-old establishment also located in Hawassa, is among hotels enjoying recovery. The Hotel had been closed for over two months in mid-2020 and managed to get by hosting medical professionals and adjusting the salaries of its 200 employees. By September last year, occupancy rates had dropped to 10pc of its 100 rooms.

"The occupancy rate is much better now," said Zelalem Getenet, general manager, adding that the rate currently sits near 50pc.

The Hotel's management is not relying on leisure tourism, which they believe still has a long way to go on the road to recovery. Instead, they are banking on meetings and conferences to pick back up while also attempting to boost the establishment's capacity to host conferences.

Leisure tourism used to account for over 90pc of the country's tourism proceeds during peak season. Though it was hoped to revive after the discovery of vaccines for COVID-19, the emergence of another wave of the pandemic has prolonged the path to recovery. Industry players are now shifting their attention to conference tourism.

The management of Radisson Blu Addis Abeba, a four-star hotel that has been active for almost a decade, is also applying a similar strategy.

In a bid to acquire new customers and boost their occupancy rate, they have introduced discount rates and cut the prices of rooms by close to 40pc. The management hopes this will attract guests coming to the capital to attend conferences and those working for international organisations. This has also pushed their occupancy rate to 30pc, a jump from two percent that was registered shortly after the first COVID-19 case was reported in Ethiopia during March 2020.

"Our hotel was almost closed after the pandemic but it is now improving thanks to the recovery of conference tourism," said Elleni Surafel, director of sales and marketing at the Radisson Blu.