LIBYAN TOURISM AND RESCUING STRATEGY
((IMPORTANCE OF IMAGE))
The tourism industry is one of the most important industries in the world since it employs “more than 250 million people worldwide (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, 2006). This industry, which includes transport, lodging, and catering, is expected to generate $12,119 billion of revenues and 279,346,000 jobs in 2016 (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, 2006). The tourism industry worldwide is also expected to indirectly and directly contribute 10.9% to Gross Domestic Product (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, 2006). However, the tourism industry is an extremely sensitive and vulnerable activity which can be impacted by important events such as terrorism, political insecurity, and natural disasters that is exactly what happened to Libya.
Tourism regulations in Libya Libyan Ministry of Tourism before the revaluation.
The ministry of tourism during Gaddafi's government was called: "The General Board for Tourism and traditional Industries, the Committee for Tourism and Traditional Industries was established to oversee and regulate tourism in Libya. The Board had a poor website, with hardly any information about Libya.
Early in 2011, a wave of political protests against Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi took a violent turn, leading to the outbreak of a civil war between Gaddafi-controlled forces and rebel forces. As the conflict stretched on, Libya’s nascent travel and tourism industry came to standstill. A no-fly zone was imposed over Libya and external forces participated in the conflict; airport runways at Benghazi Airport were destroyed, Tripoli’s port was targeted by NATO forces, and there was significant damage to the country’s infrastructure, the extent of which is yet to be revealed. This brought more than five years of consecutive growth to a halt, as Libya started to emerge from its isolation after the lifting of UN and US sanctions in 2003. The