It has been over a decade since the auspicious day when Tariku Mulugeta met a French guide in Gonder. He had barely started his career as a tour guide himself at Fasil Ghebbi in the city where he was born and raised. At the time, he spoke only English and Amharic, and a few phrases in French learned through self-help audiobooks. He met her while assisting a group from France that was visiting on a trip.

She knew Amharic and saw that he had an interest in giving tours in French. They ended up spending two hours in a restaurant that afternoon translating and writing down the details of Fasil Ghebbi, made up of a myriad of castles, churches and monasteries dating back to the 16th century. He learned it by heart and started giving tours in French shortly thereafter.

"I wasn't able to answer questions at first if there were any," he said. "I knew only what I needed to give that tour."

About a year following that, he caught the attention of a Frenchman who was there to visit the castles with his family. The man turned out to be the director at the Alliance Française in Addis Abeba, part of a global network of institutions promoting the French language. Curious to know how he spoke the language well and impressed by his grasp of a language that was self-taught, he offered him a scholarship on the spot should Tariku ever decide to come to the capital.

"Looking back, I think that was what helped me decide to stay on this course," Tariku said. "I left to Addis shortly after, and I enrolled in the class."

Despite his father's initial stern disapproval of his career path and the uncertain financial security associated with the job, his colourful career has now proved worthy of every chance he took on it. Just a fresh graduate from university with a degree in tourism management when he started out, Tariku now has over a decade of experience working across the country.

The 37-year-old speaks English, French and German and has been busy working as a freelancer since his move to Addis Abeba. Most of his clients are from German-speaking countries, and his work ethic and language skills have kept him busy despite the unpredictability that comes with being a freelancer.

"I never worried about work since I had clients who would request me at the tour companies," he said. "I always had work even in the off-seasons."

But the past year has been unlike any other for Tariku since he started work. The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has wreaked havoc on the tourism industry, and his last gig was sometime back in March. International tourist numbers, which were nearing a million visitors annually over the past few years, dwindled to nil.

"It was like hell," he said. "There was no work, I couldn't go outside of the city, nor could I visit my family."

There are estimated to be over 2,000 tour guides operating across the nation, according to data from the Ethiopian Tour Guides Professional Association. Nearly 500 of these are licensed at the federal level and operate across the county like Tariku.

But little to no attention has been given to the fate of this part of the sector, according to Henok Tsegaye, the Association's executive secretary.

"Tour guides are the informal ambassadors that represent the country to people from all corners of the world," he said. "It's been upsetting to see how little has been done for them in this difficult time."

The Association, which was set up six months ago, already has 120 members and has been working toward organising seminars during this time without work. It is also lobbying for support from the government.

"There are many that aren't able to send their kids to school or pay their rent," said Henok. "We're trying to address these needs first."

In a bid to restart activities and prepare for operation under what is widely considered a "new normal," the Ministry of Culture & Tourism along with Tourism Ethiopia took a series of steps including crafting a Safe Travel Protocol and a Recovery Strategy. These were followed by stakeholder meetings, disinfection of destination sites and awareness-raising campaigns for those involved in the tourism value chain.

By August, the Ministry was well on its way to obtaining a COVID-19 Safe Travel Stamp from the World Travel & Tourism Council, a move expected to accredit the country in the eyes of international tourists and anticipated eagerly by many players in the industry. But the plan hit a snag when mandatory quarantine continued to be enforced by the Ministry of Health.

The communication between different government entities involved in the process wasn't coherent, according to Nahome Admassu, president of the 40-member-strong Talak Ethiopian Tour Operators Association.

"They didn't see eye to eye on some issues, so it became difficult to achieve," said Nahome. The Association was working on stopover tourism before switching to a recovery strategy once the pandemic took centre stage.

Tour operators under the Asociation who had used the benefit of tax exemption to import cars for their businesses suddenly found themselves at the business end of foreclosures. The Association on its part tried to get grace periods extended, but even those have now lapsed. The attempts to get the use of the cars temporarily changed to other services like rentals and keep the businesses afloat have not yielded any concrete answers yet.

"We've been going back and forth from one government office to another with little success," he said. "There are operators on final warnings for repayment while we have been trying to find solutions."

Now this month's eruption of armed conflict in the north is likely to make the already grim situation even worse. The fighting that has engulfed Tigray Regional State has made not only the region but neighbouring areas inaccessible as well. The Regional State is home to tourist attractions like Axum, with ruins dating as far back as the first century, and the rugged Gheralta Mountains, where many rock-hewn churches lie hidden.