Long-Closed Algeria Seeks Tourists to Bank Vacation Dollars

After Saudi Arabia opened its doors to foreign tourists for the first time in 2019, one of the last remaining Arab countries still largely closed off to holidaymakers is set to follow suit.

(Bloomberg) —

After Saudi Arabia opened its doors to foreign tourists for the first time in 2019, one of the last remaining Arab countries still largely closed off to holidaymakers is set to follow suit.  

Algeria is planning to ease access for international travelers, according to an interior ministry document. Visitors may be issued with tourist visas on arrival — as opposed to embarking on a lengthy and often fruitless bureaucratic process before travel — allowing them to explore desolate landscapes and ancient monuments in the continent’s largest country.

The decision is effective now, though Algeria’s tourism season — to date overwhelmingly dominated by locals and diaspora — typically runs over the cooler months starting in October. 

But there’s a catch: Visitors will only be welcome in the south of the country covering the Sahara desert, meaning it will be harder to travel to the Mediterranean coastline, winter skiing in the Atlas mountains or the ancient capital of Algiers. They must book through approved travel agencies operating in Algeria and will be accompanied by a police escort, the document shows. 

Even so, the move represents a step change for a country that never sought to become a major travel destination like regional neighbors Morocco and Egypt. While they were building new hotels and stepping up campaigns to draw mass-market tourism in the 1990s, Algeria was mired in a brutal civil war with Islamist militants, and subsequent rulers of the OPEC nation looked inward and relied on oil to bankroll the state.

“Thank God! We are pleased with this decision that will certainly have a positive impact on the tourism sector and on the country,” Mohamed Amine Berredjem, president of the National Association of Travel Agencies, said by phone this month.  

Algeria’s tourism sector contributes only 1.5% of GDP, compared with 14% in Tunisia. The country is also lagging behind in terms of hotel infrastructure, with 127,000 beds at the end of 2020 versus 230,903 in its eastern neighbor — a far smaller country. More than a million Algerians cross the border each summer to spend their vacations in Tunisia, where the offering is more varied and prices affordable. 

To catch up, Algeria’s government is calling on foreign investors to finance and build tourist complexes, and a framework agreement has been signed between Qatar’s Retaj Hotels and Hospitality and Algeria’s state-owned HTT for the mobilization of funds. Retaj will also provide management services to HTT’s 73 hotels across the country.

Yet some are doubtful the transformation will be a smooth one.

“We hope for quick answers to requests of travel agencies,” said Lamine Hamadi, director of tourism of the province of Djanet, the region most visited by tourists. “Long delays scare away tourists.” 

 

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