ALGERIA: Tour guides in Tamanrasset say instability in the Sahel region is deterring tourists from visiting what is usually a popular winter holiday destination
Record ID:
574239
ALGERIA: Tour guides in Tamanrasset say instability in the Sahel region is deterring tourists from visiting what is usually a popular winter holiday destination
- Title: ALGERIA: Tour guides in Tamanrasset say instability in the Sahel region is deterring tourists from visiting what is usually a popular winter holiday destination
- Date: 22nd December 2013
- Summary: TAMANRASSET, ALGERIA (RECENT - DECEMBER 16, 2013) (REUTERS) SIGN READING (Arabic and English) 'ASSKREM' (name of location) VARIOUS OF DESERT MAN ON A CAMEL AND THREE CAMELS FOLLOWING HIM CARS DRIVING IN DESERT GENDARMERIE STANDING GUARD IN DESERT HOGGAR MOUNTAINS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AND TOUR GUIDES PREPARING FOOD FOR TOURISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TOUR GUIDE, IGUANE MOHAMED, SAYING: "The security situation is not good, terrorism and other issues have caused a decline in tourism, but even if foreigners don't visit, we hope that the Algerian of the north come to visit the south and the ones in the south go visit the north in order to exchange tradition." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GATHERING AROUND FOOD MEALS AND EATING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TOUR GUIDE, SALEH, SAYING: "There is a big decline in tourism because what is happening in Libya and Mali deterred tourists, people are scared of the security situation but the security situation is good in here, we don't take tourists to dangerous places and the government has taken some security measures to avoid any possible threat." TOUR GUIDE SERVING FOOD TO TOURISTS VARIOUS OF TOURISTS EATING (SOUNDBITE) (English) NOURYA, TOURIST FROM MEXICO, SAYING: "I mean I feel free, I mean because I know everything is so safe, and it is amazing, amazing, I didn't believe it you know? I dreamt so many times of being in this place and now I am here and I see its incredible, and its not true what everybody was telling me, so I am happy to be here." TOURISTS EATING (SOUNDBITE) (French) ALPHONSINA, TOURIST FROM BELGIUM, SAYING "I don't see any danger here, we are so well supervised, the Algerian government is doing everything it can to improve the security situation, we can't do better, and I don't see any danger, I really feel safe here." VARIOUS OF TOUR GUIDES PREPARING TEA GENDARMERIE STANDING GUARD IN DESERT GENDARMERIE CARS IN DESERT VARIOUS OF CAR DRIVING IN DESERT DESERT PEOPLE AND TOUR GUIDE WALKING IN DESERT MAP SHOWING TOURISM SITES IN DESERT VARIOUS OF DESERT PEOPLE OUTSIDE 'CHARLES DE FOUCAULD' SITE SIGN READING (French) 'CHARLES DE FOUCAULD - JULY - DECEMBER 1911' (Foucauld was a French Catholic priest who lived amongst the Tuareg in the Algerian Sahara and who died in Tamanrasset) (SOUNDBITE) (French) VENTURA, A SPANISH GUARD SUPERVISING CHARLES DE FOUCAULD SITE, SAYING: "We almost don't see foreign tourists anymore because of what's happening in Libya and Mali, but the number of Algerian tourists is rising, and we like that because in the past we used to see only foreigners and few Algerians but now it is the opposite. I tell tourists that nothing is happening here. It is a misery here because the guards here depend on tourism but now they are all jobless and we feel sorry for them because we see the region deteriorating." VARIOUS OF DESERT AT SUNSET
- Embargoed: 6th January 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Algeria
- Country: Algeria
- Topics: Crime,Business,Politics,Travel / Tourism
- Reuters ID: LVAF1QRR4PQUUP390GAL1HD5433V
- Story Text: Surrounded by Saharan sand dunes, the remote oasis town of Tamanrasset in the Algeria desert offers a dazzling experience for tourists.
Saharan sand dunes stretch to the horizon where visitors can ride camels with Tuareg nomads.
The Tuareg community are traditionally nomadic people who inhabit the Sahara desert mainly in Algeria, Mali and Niger.
But this year less than 600 tourists visited what is usually a popular winter holiday destination, a 60 per cent drop since 2011.
Desert tour guide Lguane Mohamed said the decline in tourist activity is driven by regional unrest.
"The security situation is not good, terrorism and other issues have caused a decline in tourism," said Lguane Mohamed.
Algeria is worried about violence spilling over from neighboring Libya, where a fragile central government is struggling to contain militias and Islamist militants operating in its lawless southern desert.
Some 40 workers, including five Statoil workers, were killed in January when Islamist militants raided the In Amenas gas plant deep in the Sahara desert, near the Libyan border, taking foreign workers hostage in a four-day siege that ended when Algerian forces stormed the plant.
But despite the decline in foreign tourists activity, Lguane says he hopes more Algerians will come.
"We hope that the Algerian of the north come to visit the south and the ones in the south go visit the north in order to exchange tradition," he added.
The Amenas attack was a surprise for Algeria, a top gas supplier to Europe, an oil-producing OPEC member and a U.S. ally in the fight against al Qaeda. That despite the security forces battling Islamist militants for years.
As well as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, other militant groups in North Africa include Ansar al-Sharia both in Tunisia and Libya, and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa or MUJWA, scattered this year by the French offensive in Mali.
"There is a big decline in tourism because what is happening in Libya and Mali deterred tourists, people are scared of the security situation but the security situation is good in here, we don't take tourists to dangerous places and the government has taken some security measures to avoid any possible threat," said Saleh, another tour guide at the site.
But one place in the Sahara town still attracts tourists despite the security situation.
Asskrem, 80 kilometres north of Tamanrasset, is frequented by tourists who seek to spend New Year's Eve enjoying the view of the last sunset.
Guides spend their days touring the site with tourists introducing them to historic attractions and serving them traditional meals.
Visitors who do come think the security risks are overblown.
"I mean I feel free, I mean because I know everything is so safe, and it is amazing, amazing, I didn't believe it you know? I dreamt so many times to be in this place and now I am here and I see its incredible, and its not true what everybody was telling me, so I am happy to be here," said Nourya a tourist from Mexico.
"I don't see any danger here, we are so well supervised, the Algerian government is doing everything it can to improve the security situation, we can't do better, and I don't see any danger, I really feel safe here," said another tourist from Belgium.
The financial toll of the tourism decline is being paid not just by travel agencies, but also by the local Touaregs who work as desert guides.
"It is a misery here because the guards here depend on tourism but now they are all jobless and we feel sorry for them because we see the region deteriorating," Said Ventura, a Spanish guard at the Sahara site.
The Algerian government has been stepping up efforts to boost security in the country to try to win back visitors who have stayed away amidst the regional unrest and revive the vital tourist sector of the economy. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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