On Monday, a group of tourists from Italy and France arrived in Libya on an exploratory trip to the city of Ghat, and the Acacus Mountains. As well as to other archaeological and tourist areas in southern Libya.
This encouraged a number of Libyan activists to call on all relevant officials to “pay attention to investing in the tourism sector to diversify the country’s economic resources, especially in light of the unrest being witnessed by the country.”
“My last time in Libya was more than ten years ago. We discovered a wonderful country, exceptional scenery, and very hospitable people,” French tourist Jean-Paul (57 years) told AFP.
“We certainly want to go back. Events in the last decade made it impossible to return, but now we were told that we can return on a supervised trip and with a security detail. People always welcome us, and we feel that the people of Libya would like to see tourists again,” he noted.
Italian tourist in his fifties, Giovanni Paolo, says he was “sure we would be welcome in this wonderful country.”
In 2021, Libya received a group of 100 tourists from various European countries, who entered the country through the Wazin border crossing with Tunisia.
The tourist trip was the first of its kind in about 10 years, since the tourism industry has taken a hiatus in the North African country.
Tourism in Libya has been heavily hit by the decade-long civil war. Tourism was still in its infancy prior to the 2011 conflict, but slowly developing. An estimated 149,000 tourists visited Libya in 2004, rising to 180,000 in 2007, although this still only contributed less than 1% of the country’s GDP. There were 1,000,000 day visitors in the same year. The country is best known for its ancient Greek and Roman ruins, and Sahara desert landscapes.
The tourism sector in Libya remains underdeveloped due to the continuous political challenges in the country. This includes military conflicts, the lack of security, difficulties in obtaining tourist visas, a lack of infrastructure, no protection of archaeological areas, and the lack of competent human resources.
