UNITED KINGDOM / FILE: Tourist industry promotes "Arab Spring" nations at London's World Travel Market

Record ID: 556139

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM / FILE: Tourist industry promotes "Arab Spring" nations at London's World Travel Market
  • Date: 16th November 2011
  • Summary: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, EASTERN LIBYA (FILE) (REUTERS) MOUNTAIN IN THE EASTERN PART OF LIBYA GABEROUN LAKE, SOUTWESTERN LIBYA (FILE) (REUTERS) GABEROUN LAKE AT FOOT OF SAND DUNES VARIOUS OF TOURISTS SWIMMING UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, LIBYA (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FOUR-WHEEL DRIVE TRUCK DRIVING DOWN SAND DUNE IN SAHARA DESERT
  • Embargoed: 1st December 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya, United Kingdom
  • City:
  • Country: United Kingdom Libya
  • Topics: Business,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAD4DZIBHPD5WX9BR933NWF7ANQ
  • Story Text: Hundreds of tourism industry professionals descended on the British capital for the 2011 World Travel Market early in November and "Arab Spring" countries were busy promoting their tourist attractions in the hope of reviving international interest.
    Egypt and Tunisia have been investing heavily in marketing campaigns, rebranding themselves as new democracies, following unrest which led to the ousting of their long-term leaders earlier in 2011.
    Libya, where a civil war recently ended in the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi's regime, is emerging as an unlikely holiday destination for 2012 as industry professionals pulled out all the stops to attract business at the trade fair.
    Craig Baguley, manager of the UK office of Libyan travel firm Arkno Tours, pointed out that there always has been a market for tourism in Libya, which can offer ancient Roman and Greek sites for the cultural tourist and salt lakes and sand dunes for the more adventurous travellers.
    After the hiatus in the Libyan tourism industry during the nation's revolution, Baguley expects the first foreign holidaymakers to return to Libya next spring.
    "We are going to see our first tourists coming back in say, March or April 2012. that will increase later on in 2012," said Baguley.
    He explained that the Libyan tourist industry's challenge is to convince foreign holidaymakers that they are visiting a country where their safety can be assured but that could take "a couple of years."
    "People need to know that things have settled down , that the security is OK, and once we get the word out that it is a safe place to come to, which at the moment, it is anyway, but we have to get the word out to people about that," said Baguley.
    Baguley said it would take two to three years for tourists to feel confident enough to visit Libya in the numbers prior to the political events of 2011, and when that happens mainstream tourist companies will also increase their presence in the country.
    "I think it's going to take two or three years and people will start coming back , including the mainstream companies because they all realise how much tourism - well, how much we have to offer in the tourism sector," said Baguley.
    Unlike Tunisia and Egypt's antiquities, which millions of tourists visit each year, Libya's treasures have been seen by relatively few foreigners since Gaddafi's 1969 revolution.
    But Libya's five United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) world heritage sites have the potential to be very popular tourist attractions following the ouster of Gaddafi's regime.
    Leptis Magna, the largest heritage site in Libya, is an ancient Roman site in Khums, which has always attracted cultural tourist interest.
    EuroMonitor 's head of travel and tourism, Caroline Bremner, believes if Libya repairs and develops its infrastructure, the country could eventually become a magnet for the mass tourist industry.
    "It has great potential, its location, that's its very long coastline and, obviously, the fact that infrastructure was there, I mean some of it has been destroyed so there will be a period of reconstruction but if you're talking maybe the next 10 to 20 years I wouldn't be surprised if we see the likes of Easy Jet or Ryanair moving in at some point," she said.
    Price cuts in the second half of 2011 have already helped to to encourage travellers to return to the Middle East region in the wake of political upsets there.
    And as 2011 draws to a close, the Middle East region's tourism professionals are saying they are confident that holidaymaker numbers will begin to return to pre-Arab Spring levels next year.
    Across North Africa and the Middle East as a whole, industry professionals expect tourist numbers to continue to slowly recover in 2012, as long as the new Arab leaders can provide stable political conditions.
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