October 12, 2007	Friday	Ramazan 29, 1428

CYRENE (Libya): From thousands of miles of pristine Mediterranean coastline, to sweeping desert sand dunes and ancient ruins that rival Greece and Italy, Libya has a lot to offer travelers looking for a rare off-the-beaten path destination — but obstacles remain.

UN sanctions kept tourists from visiting this North African country for more than a decade. Now the former pariah state best known for its eccentric leader, Moammar Gadhafi, is slowly opening its doors as it tries to shed its rogue state status.

A new airport is in the works for the capital of Tripoli. The national airline, Afriqiyah Airways, is buying new Airbus planes, and in September, one of Gadhafi’s sons announced a sweeping plan to promote ecotourism in the pine and olive-tree filled Green Mountains in northeastern Libya, saying it was time for the oil-dominated country to diversify its economy.

“Libya used to be just oil, but now we have another way for the future — tourism.” said Ibris Saleh Abdussalam, a Libyan tour guide.

Despite the plans and promises, however, tourists seeking a convenience-filled, luxury vacation should beware — Libya’s tourism industry is still far behind its Mediterranean neighbours. ATMs are scarce and often unreliable and the decor of many hotels is straight out of the 1970s.

“Libya has tremendous potential. ... But Libya is still in its infancy and needs to develop infrastructure and facilities,” said Amr Abdel-Ghaffar, of the UN World Tourism Organization in Madrid.

Once the United States’ sworn enemy, Libya is embarking on a political and economic U-turn that includes boosting its tourism industry.

The change of heart began in 2003, when UN sanctions were abruptly lifted after 11 years when Gadhafi announced he was dismantling his nuclear weapons program and took responsibility for the 1988 bombing of a Pam Am plane over Lockerbie, Scotland. But obstacles — including government red-tape — remain in this country where Gadhafi has ruled with an iron fist for more than three decades and outsiders have traditionally not been welcome.

Proof that Libya has a long way to go is in the numbers. According to the UN tourism agency, less than 1 per cent of Libya’s GDP came from tourism with only 149,000 tourists visiting in 2004, the last year the country provided statistics. Compare that to neighbouring Egypt, which hosted about 9 million tourists last year.

US passport holders can’t apply for a tourist visa in the US and must send their application to a Libyan embassy elsewhere like Canada. The visas take months to process and usually require a letter of invitation from a tour operator in Libya. Kenneth Jackson, a customer service agent with the US-based Zierer Visa Service, said most of the Americans who apply for Libyan tourist visas through his company are traveling on Mediterranean cruises. Visa regulations are less strict for Europeans, but like Americans, they are usually required to travel as part of a group with a government-approved agency.

“The biggest problem is Libyan bureaucracy. ... And they’re erratic, suddenly deciding they aren’t going to admit Americans just as a cruise ship with Americans on board is about to arrive, is not a good way to develop tourism,” Tony Wheeler, a co-founder of Lonely Planet travel guidebooks, said via e-mail from Australia.

Tourist Gerd Juetting, who in September traveled to Libya with about a dozen others as part of a German tour group, believes the time is now to see Libya — despite the hassles and lack of infrastructure.

“People would ask us, ‘Why Libya?’” said Juetting.

“But the only way to see Roman and Greek settlements from back then is to come. ... We now hope we can go back home and tell people about this.”—AP