Tourism overview

Libya enjoys valuable nature and historical resources over a large geographical area. Long sandy beaches on the Mediterranean Sea, a rich history of past civilizations, well preserved archaeological sights, sunny days all year around, desert and mountains are all incentives of a profitable tourism industry.

As the country is located in an exclusive strategic geographical position from a tourism perspective, it is the perfect gateway to Africa from any European city in just a few hours flight, being located in the middle of North Africa and bordering the Mediterranean Sea with a coast line of about 2000 km length.

Due to its location, the country has witnessed many civilizations and cultures throughout its history, unique and well preserved historical sites to be visited are scattered around the country. Libya benefits also from a typical Mediterranean climate along the coast in the northern parts and desert climate in the south, average temperature range between 15 C during winter and 35 C during summer time. With 85 % of the local population living in the major cities, most of the land is virgin. Furthermore, there is a potential workforce to be trained in the tourism field, as 61% of the Libyans are under 25 years old. There are absolutely no religious conflicts in Libya; the country is one of the most secure in the area. The official language being Arabic, with English, French and Italian being widely used by most of Libyans.

The Libyan authorities are currently encouraging individuals to take the initiative and form small and medium enterprises. Also the Government is working on modernizing the banking system and financial institutions, promoting of small, medium and large investment projects within the broad lines of the country's economic and social developmental strategy.

Market analysis has demonstrated that, whilst the traditional beach holiday will remain an important component of tourism worldwide, increasingly tourists are seeking a broader and, arguably, more interesting product involving one or more of:

An evaluation of the tourism potential tourism within Libya indicated that the country would possess a significant appeal to a wide range of international tourists. The principal attractions may be summarized as following:

Opportunities can be found in the development of domestic tourism, particularly through the provision of family oriented beach resorts and supporting tourism and recreational facilities. With the increasingly high proportion of young people within the population, there is an urgent need to provide places of interest to visit and things to do.

Although holiday tourists are attracted to Libya at the present time, their number is limited and would not support a viably sustainable tourism sector. To achieve this goal, the development of the tourism sector is required, in particular: