If The Mountain Will Not Come To Mohammed

[IMG=20718-6488]Representatives of the Libyan company Winzrik Tourism and the Arab Coral International announced hoteliers from Tripoli together with their partners in the UAE plan a $75 million investment into the development of the Libyan travel industry, Gulf News reported. 25$ million are to be invested into the reconstruction of a four star hotel, while 50$ million will be allocated to beach and agrarian tourism development in the Tripoli area. We remind you that in September 2004 the Ministry of Finance of the USA announced it would take off a trade embargo, while the European Union announced lifting of economic sanctions for Libya. Unfrozen assets were understood to be partly allocated to development of inbound tourism in the country. However, international tour operators were wary of the market despite its attractiveness as a potential mass-market destination. That time only the English WS Watkins projected a luxury resort complex in Sidi-Bennur. After two years Libya took the initiative itself. ‘Today tourism in Libya is a dynamic fastly growing industry. The government invests into further sector development’, said the Head of Winzrik, Abdul Gherwash. Partnership of Winzrik with the Arab company showed to the whole travel industry: Northern Afica opens its tourism sector for foreign market players. According to the Managing Director of Coral International, Michel P.J. Noblet, the company has already formed the first group of international hotels for an alliance with the Libyan party. Moreover, at the moment the partners are negotiating with the Government aiming at transfer of two 5* hotels in Tripoli to the alliance. Meanwhile, experts interviewed by a BANKO correspondent, are skeptical towards the Libyan initiative. Thus, Alexandra Plyaskina, General Director of Spark Group, said: ‘it is a difficult region, which does not have a big tourist flow. Therefore, it will take local hoteliers much time to ‘conquer’ tourists’. ‘It will take minimum three years to promote the destination. At present hotels in Libya are not in the best condition, besides money will be required for advertising, exhibitions, fam trips’, agreed Gennady Kotov, Executive Director of Astravel. Russian travel market experts summarized that Russian tour operators that specialize in mass market destinations and group tours will hardly pay attention to Libya over the next few years.