Gulf News.com Libya may not roll off the tongue when you think of holidaying in the sun, but the country is embarking on a programme of rebranding designed to make you do exactly that in the future.
And it wants UAE companies to help it on its way. November's UAE in Libya, to be held in Tripoli, has been designed to encourage UAE companies to invest there.
The event's stated aim is to put UAE companies keen to get involved in "Libya's untapped tourism market in touch with senior Libyan officials responsible for major purchasing decisions from both the government and the private sectors."
Since sanctions against Libya came to an end the country has been keen to open the economy up to the outside world and encourage foreign direct investment.
A Ministry of Tourism has been opened to drive development in the hospitality sector.
The country is certainly ambitious. It wants to increase the annual number of visitors from 100,000 to 10 million.
Its tourism minister Ammar Mabrouk Eltayef wants 100,000 new hotel beds by 2010. Hotels, resorts, sporting facilities such as golf courses and even a yacht club "are in the pipeline" along Libya's 2,000 km of Mediterranean coastline. There are even plans to develop parts of the Sahara for desert adventure holidays.
All these projects require external investment and external expertise. As a result the organisers and sponsors of the UAE in Libya the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority and Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) hope to feature exhibitors representing not only the tourist trade but also a wide range of industries from agriculture, transport, IT and telecommunications to foodstuffs and electronics.
"Whereas opportunities to do this have been limited in the past we're now very excited about taking part in UAE in Libya and realising the new-found potential of the North Africa region," said Khalifa Ali Buamaim, manager, overseas promotion at DCCI. "We're expecting over 100 exhibitors to take part in November," Buamaim said, highlighting land developers, construction firms as well as businesses working behind the scenes of the tourism trade, such as those providing training for hospitality workers or supplying equipment to hotels as companies, as those that should take part. |