About 300 000 tourists annually visit Libya, one of the largest African countries. If compared to 6 mln visitors in Morocco and Tunisia and 8.5 mln travelers, who come to Egypt every year, Libya gets just 0.5 % of all tourists in the Middle East and North Africa.

Nevertheless, the country showed its potential when it welcomed more than 7 000 foreigners in March to view a solar eclipse. The event has raised interest in Libya as a tourist destination. It has all to attract travelers: ancient Roman and Greek ruins, prehistoric desert sites and all the beauty of the Mediterranean southern shores.

“If Libya got its act together, it could be a tourism world beater,” said Rajeev Singh-Molares, one of the authors of a report on the Libyan economy by Monitor Group consultants and Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA).

The country plans to build a series of tourism complexes, but there are many problems to be solved before Libya gets the status of top travel destination, one of which is slow and complex tourist visa processing.

“It’s so difficult to get visas to go into the country: there’s no point talking about reform if it takes 45 days to approve a tourist visa. That’s got to change,” Singh-Molares said.

The country has already begun to speed up visa processing for large groups of tourists travelling with approved operators.

Source: http://www.middle-east-online.com/