Libya is a country with a rich heritage in terms of culture, archaeological and historical sites, and a long Mediterranean coastline of sandy beaches. However, unlike the neighbouring countries of Tunisia and Egypt, which have similar attractions and which have capitalised upon these to develop successful tourist industries, Libya has not devoted its efforts to expand in this area, and this is partly a reflection of the fact that Libya has been an oil economy for the last forty years, and there has been no real need to attempt diversification of the economy on a grand scale; and partly a result of the political isolation of Libya as a result of UN and US sanctions. However, in recent years, the overreliance on oil revenues, and the potential of tourism to contribute substantially towards the economy, have encouraged the government to look towards tourism as a way to sustain the economy in the long term, and consequently, moves have been made to launch Libya as a tourist destination, especially since the lifting of the international sanctions mentioned. This study has focused on the efforts to date by Libya to refocus its economic strategy, and after reviewing the relevant literature, the researcher constructed three research instruments for use during fieldwork in Libya with different populations, in an attempt to establish the current status of the Libyan tourism industry. A questionnaire survey to establish demographic information about international tourists, and levels of satisfaction with the Libyan tourism product overall, was carried out with 282 tourists to Libya. An interview exercise was conducted with tourism administrators, and two indepth interviews were held with the UnderSecretary of State for Tourism Affairs, and the UnderSecretary of State for Education and Training Affairs, respectively. The tourist data was analysed using SPSS and crosstabulations were performed in order to identify the background of tourists (country of origin, age, sex, tourist behaviour) and their predispositions and opinions, by sex and age, on a range of dimensions within the two broader aspects of Accommodation, and Tourism Attractions. The findings reveal that women in general are less critical of Libya’s tourism product than men, and that tourists in the older age groups, who have a greater experience of travel, are more realistic in their expectations of what a developing country can offer to tourists. However, whilst Libya has immense potential as a tourist destination, with the possibility of offering several different tourist products, thereby being of interest to various market segments, it is currently unable to pursue these opportunities because of shortcomings in tourist infrastructure, in particular its lack of accommodation, tourist information, and service quality. What is currently being delivered to tourists is a substandard product which begins and ends with bureaucratic procedures at entry/exit points to the country, and which is characterised by an experience in between that reflects the lack of planning. The thesis concludes that a proper planning framework, which includes appropriate levels of investment, is necessary for a tourism industry in Libya to thrive and contribute towards the economy to the extent that the government hopes, and envisages.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:516058 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Danis, Omer Molood |
| Contributors | Breckin, Michael ; Cullingford, Cedric ; Cook, John |
| Publisher | University of Huddersfield |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/372/ |
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