Libya welcomes tourists again

(Ghadames) A ​​“magnificent” but unstable country: around a hundred European tourists have embarked on an unprecedented journey across the vast expanses of the Libyan desert, forming the largest group of foreign travelers to visit this country for almost 10 years.

Police sirens sound through the walled city of Ghadames, opening the way for dozens of large 4x4s carrying Italian, French, Icelandic and Swiss tourists.

Like other Libyan cities, this oasis built in the middle of a palm grove had not received tourist groups since 2012, due to the chaos following the fall of Muammar Gadhafi’s regime in 2011.

With the end of the fighting between rival camps in the summer of 2020 and the ongoing political process aimed at pacifying the country, Ali el-Kouba, who heads a private travel agency, organized this road trip to “break the wall of fear among many admirers of the Libyan Sahara,” he told AFP.

With the support of the authorities, who secured the circuit and provided police officers to escort the convoy, Mr. Kouba “graciously offered” the trip to a hundred European tourists, many of them seasoned backpackers who already knew the country.

” To recover “

This is the case with Jean-Paul, a 57-year-old Frenchman: “the last time (in Libya) dates back more than ten years. We had discovered a magnificent country, with extraordinary landscapes and very welcoming people, ”he recalls.

“Of course, we wanted to come back. The events meant that for ten years, this was not possible, and there, we were told that we could possibly come back in being supervised, in safety, people are always welcoming and we feel that the Libyans have want to see tourists again, ”says the traveler.

“Here we are in Ghadames, after a 10-year absence,” adds the Italian Giovanni Paolo in an enthusiastic voice, wearing a yellow Tuareg-style scarf. “We were sure to be welcome in this wonderful country”, launches this tour operator in his fifties with a big smile.

Arrived via a border post with Tunisia, the group spent a night under the stars before setting off to discover the great south of Libya made of dunes and rockeries, passing through the picturesque Ghadames, located 650 km away. southwest of Tripoli.

Known as the “Pearl of the Desert”, Ghadames is one of the oldest cities in the pre-Saharan region.

Armed with cameras and smart phones, visitors in a group walk the medina of the old caravan city, with its labyrinthine alleys painted in whitewash, its craft shops and traditional houses, reinforced by palm tree trunks.

In the new part of this city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, an elegant mosque with two minarets stands opposite opulent ocher-toned villas adorned with white horns, incorporating the typical architectural elements of the old city.

Jean-Jacques Sire, a 67-year-old Frenchman, discovered Libya in 1994 where he “met an exceptionally welcoming population”, before returning there four years later. “When I knew there was a group of friends who were ready to come back, I didn’t hesitate,” he says, white beard and black bowler hat on his head.

Precarious security

A confidential sector in a country where peace remains fragile and the economy dominated by the weight of hydrocarbons, tourism had experienced a timid opening in the 2000s.

At the time, the Gaddafi regime had just made a comeback on the international scene, crowned by the lifting of a UN embargo in 2003.

Tourist visas had been issued for the first time and a ministry had been created. In 2010, 110,000 foreign tourists visited Libya, generating $ 40 million in revenue.

It all came to a halt in 2011.

“The idea behind the trip was to bring back European tourists and today they are there”, rejoices Khaled Derdera, general coordinator of the trip, who wants to thwart “the idea that Libya is a failed state”.

Despite political advances in recent months, security remains precarious. Most countries formally advise their nationals not to go there, delaying the revival of the sector.