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By Jamal Adel.
Tripoli, 20 December 2013
In terms of its considerable potential earnings from tourism, Libya stands at a crossroads and needs . . .[restrict]to invest to attract visitors, a tourism chief has told a key conference on the sector.
The chairman of Libya 2020-2030 Vision, Issa Altuwaijri said that flourishing tourism would allow economic diversification away from almost total reliance on oil exports.
Altuwaijri told the Libya 2020-2030 Vision conference at the Ministry of Tourism that the country had to look to alternative sources of revenue on a large scale or sink deeper into it’s reliance on oil and gas. He said that his organisation’s mission was to coordinate tourism projects and using international experience develop a world-class tourism offer.
Altuwaijri said that Libya had a number of unique geographical locations and huge untapped human resources which, with the help of foreign investment, would create huge changes.
He warned that corruption, a poor work ethic, inefficiency in the private sector and disruptive laws and regulations could hinder progress. However he believed that clear communication could overcome these problems.
Tourism minister, Ikram Abdulsalam Imam, told the Libya Herald she was keen to develop real change in the tourism sector and in the promotion of Libya. She said that though in a transitional stage, major positive changes could be made, if the country were blessed with more stability.
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